Smurfing with the Wolves
by PhantasyPhan13
Summary: Lupine Smurf has been raised by the wolf pack of Aluraris all his life. When he follows Papa Smurf back to the village, he finally meets the family that he's forgotten. But it isn't so easy for a wolfish Smurf to settle down into the quaint village life of his kin. And when Papa becomes ill, he may be thrown into a whirlwind of events that will change his entire existence.
1. Prologue

Smurfing with the Wolves

Prologue

_ Deep in a medieval forest untouched by the savage hands of time, a stork flew through the chilly winter night. It seemed determined to reach its destination despite the snow whipping its face like the cold fangs of an arctic wolf. It was carrying a small bundle in its talons, which occasionally moved and sniffled._

_ Upon the stork's back sat a most extraordinary little being. It had a beard like a cloud, and its ancient eyes sparkled with wisdom and love. It was a vibrant shade of sky-blue and wore a red hat and pants. A tail poked out of the pants, stubby and minute like a baby's thumb._

_ "Come on, Snow-wing, we're almost at the village now," said the figure, yanking on the stork's reins to make it fly faster. The stork honked in reply and flapped its wings harder, increasing its speed and carrying it on through that eerily calm, mystical night._

_ Suddenly, a gust of wind caught the stork and its rider off guard, and it whipped them backwards through the air. Something singed the stork's wing, and it let out a cry of anguish as it slowly spiraled towards the ground. "Oh no…" whispered Papa in horror, trying to stop their rapid descent. As hard as he tried, he couldn't stop Snow-wing from falling._

_ Another gust of wind buffeted the Smurf and the stork, and it knocked Papa off the stork's back and into a rock. He let out a scream of pain and then fell silent. Snow-wing shrieked in horror and flew to his rider, scooping him onto his back and carrying him towards the village with as much energy as he could muster._

_ Papa opened his eyes just in time to see the white bundle unravel and fall on the ground below, leaving the Smurfling alone and exposed to the harsh winter. "The baby…" called Papa, but the wind muffled his words and Snow-wing couldn't hear him. "What will happen to him? Oh, why did that dragon have to attack us tonight of all nights?" But then they arrived at the village and the Smurfling was lost to view._

…

_ The little Smurf had waited for someone to rescue him for what seemed like decades. He was cold and bored, and wondering about his future. Would he live, or would he be a victim to winter's deathly claws?_

_ He waited for hours, days, weeks, months. Nothing happened. He was starving and freezing, and he was convinced that he would die._

_ But on one particularly frosty winter morning, the unimaginable happened._

_ The Smurf was beginning to think that he was abandoned and wouldn't live much longer when a soft tongue licked his cheek, and warm breath melted the snow that covered him like fine powder. He looked up and found himself gazing into a wolf's wise and wondrous eyes. "Greetings, little Smurfling," it whispered, and picked him up and put him on his back. The Smurf nestled into the fur on his back and let out a happy chirp, overjoyed to be saved at last. Then he fell asleep._

_ The wolf walked on in the icy world, taking careful steps so as not to allow its tiny rider to fall off its back. Before long, he had reached his pack-home, and he let out a howl to his packmates: "I am here. There is a new pack member. Come, my pack, and welcome him home."_

_ Soon, other wolves gathered around their alpha, curious to see what he had brought home with him. "What is it? Its tiny breathing is so adorable!" breathed a lovely she-wolf with fur as white as the snow and eyes like glittering blue ice. "It's a Smurfling. He was abandoned in the snow, and he would have died if I had not rescued him," explained the alpha, gently putting his blue bundle down on the snowy ground._

_ You can imagine the Smurf's surprise when he opened his eyes to see a bunch of wolves gazing back at him with curiosity and a bit of doubt and amusement. But somehow, he wasn't afraid. He knew these magnificent creatures wouldn't hurt him, and they were already starting to seem like his family. He cooed and smiled at the wolves, melting their hearts of ice. They smiled back, and howled into the sky: "Little Smurf of the medieval forest, welcome to our pack-home. Awaken your spirit, and run with the wolves, O little one."_

_ Little did the wolves and the Smurfling know as they sang that one day their new pack member would have a destiny like no other, and save his kin from a terrible fate. But for now, they were happy to be together and run as one._


	2. Chapter 1: Lupine

Chapter One: Lupine

"Bet you can't catch me!" teased Grayfur as he ran off from Lupine Smurf in a game of tag. "Oh yes I can, you slowpoke!" retorted Lupine, racing faster and tagging Grayfur on the leg. "Aww, you always get me every time!" whined Grayfur, running after Lupine with a vengeance. Lupine just giggled and ducked behind Icefeather, and Grayfur accidentally tagged her instead. "Oh Grayfur!" sighed Icefeather, watching the snorting wolf dash off. She chased Sunpelt instead but was soon over her disappointment and squealing in delight as she cornered a shrieking Sunpelt.

"That was awesome, little brother! How did you learn to run so fast?" asked Grayfur, giving Lupine a high five after the game was done. "I dunno, it just comes naturally to me I guess," shrugged Lupine, wagging his furry stub of a tail, which really looked more like a wolf's than a Smurf's. In fact, Lupine was wolfish all over! He had a ruff of sky-blue fur around his neck, and he had sharp fangs instead of teeth. His hands and feet had claws on them, and his ears were pointed, unlike a Smurf's rather humanoid ears. His nose was even a dog's instead of a Smurf's!

It was no surprise that Lupine looked more like a wolf than like his kin. For to this day, he had lived with the pack for a century, ever since they had found him alone in the snow as a baby and had first begun to teach him the ways of the wolf. Today was his one hundredth birthday, making him an official adult Smurf; at least in his village, it would've. To him, it just meant another year marking the date of his adoption into the pack.

One awful part about living longer than most wolves was that he outlived many of them; and this always made him very sad. One time, he had asked his adopted mother, Windtalon, "Why can't I live as long as a normal wolf? I keep outliving everybody and it makes me really unhappy." Windtalon had told him, "You're lucky that you live longer than everyone else, Lupine. Most wolves would actually be happy to live as long as you do. Besides, at some point in life, everything has to die. Regardless of whether you lived the lifespan of a wolf or not, everyone would still die. You just have to accept who you are and that there's nothing you can do about death." Lupine had nodded, but in his heart he still wished that his life wasn't longer than everyone else's. Sometimes it just didn't seem fair.

Aside from that, he loved living with the pack. They were always very kind to him and he felt like one of their own. It was always a joyful thing for him to run with them, join in their howling wolf songs, and feel the excitement drumming in his heart as he chased elk with the pack's hunters. But the part he liked best was when he was alone with his siblings, enjoying each other's company and watching the silver moonlight lap up the nightscape like a sea devouring the sand on a shore.

But this was not going to be a normal day. Little did Lupine know that on this day, he would discover who he really was and find the family that he had been separated from so long ago.

…

"LUPINE! TO THE LEFT!" barked Elk-catcher as the pack's hunters chased down the frightened herd of elk. "GOT IT!" called Lupine as he raced to the left, jumping upon an injured elk's back and biting it on the back of the neck. The elk squealed and its legs buckled from beneath it, collapsing to the ground. The elk's body was soon swarming with wolves, and before you could blink an eye, the great animal was dead. The wolves and Lupine raised their muzzles to the sky and howled a mourning song for the life they had taken before they tucked into their kill. The pups and the injured ate first, then the females, then finally the males.

The elk was so large that they couldn't finish it all in one day, so when they were done they buried it under a thick blanket of snow. Then Elk-catcher guided the hunters, now with full bellies, back to the pack-home to rest and care for the pups.

As Lupine was trotting back with his packmates, he had the odd feeling that somebody was watching him. He turned around just in time to see a flash of white fur dart through the bushes. He thought that maybe it was a rabbit and inched closer to it. He was able to get another glimpse of the creature and saw something blue scuttling away.

They say curiosity kills the cat, but Lupine was a Smurf after all, and what he'd seen looked so small that he knew it couldn't possibly hurt him. Besides, he'd tackled elk many times larger than himself before and hadn't gotten hurt. He raised his nose to the air and tried to find the scent of the creature mixed in with the everyday smells of the forest.

He soon found its odor, but it had a rather odd scent: it smelled of potions and magic and sarsaparilla and something else that he remembered from his past but couldn't put a name to. Intrigued, he put his muzzle on the ground and sniffed like fury, tracking down the mysterious animal that he had seen. Before long, he could make out its shape among the trees and crouched low to the ground behind a bush, eager to see more of the stranger.

He could hear the figure mumbling to itself, but he couldn't make out what it was saying. However, he did get a far better view of it than he had before: it had a beard like a billowing cloud, and a mustache that drooped over his lips like dog tails. The creature was dressed in red and had a small tail that looked quite similar to Lupine's.

Suddenly, an image flashed in his head of this being leaning over him, smiling and wrapping him in something soft and white before carrying him away. Then there was the sensation of flying through the air. After that, there were screams and he was falling, falling, falling…and then he hit the earth and the white stuff had parted to reveal a frosty world and the creature flying away on a stork's back, calling out something that was lost to the winds.

Haunted by this image, Lupine almost didn't see the figure walk away and quietly followed him. The figure hardly noticed, but this was probably because Lupine had been trained by the wolves to be a silent stalker so that his prey wouldn't hear him coming. The stranger seemed to know that he was being followed, however, because at one point he stopped and looked around himself. Then he shook his head and kept walking, the last remaining leaves on the snowy ground crunching beneath his feet as he went.

Lupine kept following the creature, and before long the figure approached an invisible curtain and stepped through it, leaving the jellylike barrier rippling like silk and showing no trace of what lay behind it. Cautiously, Lupine approached the wall and touched it, ripples spreading out from it like a pond. He closed his eyes and backed up, then ran with all his might through the barrier.

When he opened his eyes again, he was on the other side and saw a sight that took his breath away.

There was a colorful mushroom village spread out before him, the streets bustling with tiny creatures that looked like younger versions of the figure that he'd seen before in the forest. Cheerful laughter rang throughout the village, and the little blue creatures sang happy songs as they worked.

Lupine was amazed, but he had an odd feeling of belonging here and had the sudden urge to explore the village and find the figure that had unknowingly led him here. He padded off along the roads eagerly, sniffing the air and catching exciting scents that stirred up memories from his past.

It wasn't long before somebody spotted him. "Hey, what are you doing?! And why are you walking on all fours?" called a figure wearing round glasses. Lupine stopped and said, "I'm-I'm just exploring a little really. Is there a problem with that?" "No," said the creature with the glasses, his eyes widening when he got a good view of Lupine. "Oh my Smurf! You look half wolf! Did Gargamel catch you, or are you one of Papa's experiments?"

"I don't understand what you're talking about," sniffed Lupine, thinking that this being was a little rude. "And who's Papa?" _Papa…_the name made something stir inside him, and the mysterious figure he had been tracking only a few moments ago popped into his mind.

"He's our leader! He just came back to the village only a minute ago. He was looking for some herbs I think, and then you came…anyway, since he spends half of his time in his lab and he's always so mysterious about it, I thought maybe he was trying to make a Smurf-wolf or something." "Well, I don't know what you mean, but I'm not an experiment. I belong to the wolf pack Aluraris. In fact, I really ought to be getting back to them now…they're probably sending out a rescue party already."

"You live with the _wolves_?!" asked the guy with the glasses, his eyes widening. "Why would you live with _them_?! This is your home! Clearly, you're a Smurf!" "What's a Smurf? Never heard of them!" replied Lupine, raising his furry eyebrows in suspicion. But the word did sound faintly familiar…he'd always thought he was a wolf, but in truth, was he actually one of these odd little beings in the mushroom houses?! He did sort of feel that he belonged here…maybe he should see this Papa person this being was talking about.

"Errrmmm...do you know where I can find this Papa guy you're talking about? Maybe he can help me," said Lupine. "Sure! I can take you to him right now," replied the stranger. "But if he's in his lab, we probably shouldn't disturb him. He might get angry or something…and he's not a lot of fun to be around when he's angry. But then again, neither is Grouchy…but he's always in a bad mood anyway. Follow me!" And with that, the strange little figure walked off, and Lupine trotted along behind him, bursting with curiosity.

Soon, they reached a small mushroom with a red roof. "Papa, we've got a visitor!" called Lupine's guide, knocking on the door. Within a few moments, the figure Lupine had seen in the forest popped his face out a window, looking a bit flustered. "Brainy, what is it? I'm in the middle of a very important experiment! Your excuse this time had better be good," he said, raising his white eyebrows suspiciously. "Trust me, it's a _very _good excuse! I found this guy walking around in the village. I thought maybe he was one of your experiments, but he said he's from some wolf pack and that he was exploring," said Brainy. "Is it OK to come in?"

"Sure, but hang on a moment…" said Papa, rushing off and disappearing into the house. Before long, he was back at the window. "You can come in now!" he said, looking a little flushed. Brainy pushed open the door and Lupine found himself in a charming, quaint little cottage of a house. He found himself rather liking it. He sat down on the floor and looked curiously at Papa, cocking his head to one side.

As soon as their eyes locked, Lupine felt something between the two of them, as if a chain had suddenly sprung up between them and connected them. Memories tumbled into his mind, clearer than ever before: Being dangled in a stork's talons as he was carried on his way to meet the village for the first time. Heat blasting nearby, and the screams as he felt the sensation of falling for the first time.

The white material he was wrapped in unraveled, and he saw Papa unconscious on the stork's back. He felt a fearful lump in his stomach, but just then Papa opened his eyes and saw that Lupine was alone in the snow. He called for the stork to take him back, but it was too late.

Then he'd waited for what seemed an eternity to be rescued, but nothing had happened. Then one morning, a wolf had licked his cheek and warmed him with its breath. He'd looked into his eyes, and the wolf had put him on his back to take home to his pack. He'd fallen asleep, and remembered waking up in a circle of wolves looking down at him. They seemed friendly, though, and felt just like his family. Then they'd sang a joyful song of togetherness and love.

Lupine blinked hard as he snapped out of his reverie, a little startled by the truth that had just been revealed to him. Had he really been born to these Smurfs? He was nothing like them, and they were so different that it seemed almost impossible that they could be related. But he knew in his heart that what he'd just seen was the truth, and he looked at the Smurfs in an entirely new way.

By the look on Papa's face, Lupine knew that he had just had the same jumble of visions that he'd seen. "Is…is that…you?" Papa said uncertainly, his eyes wide as the moon. "You're…the one…I lost on that snowy night…so long ago…" "Papa…" replied Lupine, a strange sort of love singing in his heart. "You…you're…that stranger…I saw in the forest...just now? We're family? I'm a Smurf?" "Yes," Papa said quietly, trying to blink back tears. "It can't be! It can't be!" gasped Lupine, but it was too late. He knew, at last, who he really was. "Papa..." "Lupine…" The two Smurfs embraced, tears falling down their faces as they fully absorbed the truth of what had been revealed: The lost Smurf was finally home.

"Stop being so mushy, otherwise my glasses will smear with all of your tears…" grumbled Brainy, trying to hide his own emotion. "I can't believe it! I thought you died! Oh, I'm so glad you're finally home!" Papa exclaimed, laughing joyfully. "We've got to tell everyone! We should throw a festival! Oh, it's so amazing!" "Same to you," smiled Lupine, his heart feeling as though it was split in two now. "Can I invite the wolves to the festival?" "Sure," said Papa, racing outside to share the incredible news with everyone.

Lupine followed him, feeling like he was floating above the ground and experiencing the odd sensation that time had stopped. He stopped and let out a howl of triumph. "HEY! STOP THAT!" shouted Lazy before he fell asleep again. "It's going to be a very long year here…" moaned Lupine, wondering how long it would take to adapt and live like a real Smurf would.

But for now it didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was home, and he'd met his family at last. He howled again, with more feeling. "Urrggh…" groaned Lazy, pulling his hat over his ears. "Me, I hate wolves that disturb your sleep!" complained Grouchy. "You don't know the worst of it," muttered Lazy before rolling over and snoring.


	3. Chapter 2: Reunited Again

Chapter Two: Reunited Again

"We shall miss you, little Smurf-wolf of the pack Aluraris," whispered Deer-song as Lupine hugged the alphaess for the last time. It felt so odd to be saying goodbye to the wolves to live with the Smurfs, but he knew it had to be. Lupine knew that he'd see them again, but it was so heartbreaking to be saying goodbye to his family that he'd shared good and bad times with over the past century. But when he looked at the Smurfs, he felt a strong connection binding him to them. He knew that if he left them, it would be just as heartbreaking as leaving the wolves.

The festival had lasted for a week, and it had been a fun and happy time. Over the last seven days, he'd gotten to know his new family and now knew the name of every single Smurf in the village. Brainy had given him more tours and Lupine now knew the village like the back of his claws. He'd seen the other Smurfs giving him odd looks, but Brainy had told him that all of the new Smurfs got stared at like that. Lupine had wondered whether it was because he looked so different than everybody else.

All of a sudden, Lupine felt small and alone, and he wasn't sure he could do this. How could he leave the pack and say goodbye, just like that? He was going to be living with a bunch of strangers that would stare at him until they got used to him. Lupine started to shake, and he tried to gulp down the lump rising in his throat. "Don't worry. Just follow your path and everything will be alright," whispered Deer-song, licking the tears off of Lupine's cheeks.

"I know, but it'll be so weird without you!" Lupine whispered back, taking one last look at his wolf family. "It won't be the same playing tag without you, little brother," said Grayfur. "High paw!" The two brothers high-fived each other for the last time. "I'll miss you too," said Icefeather, nuzzling Lupine. "ALL of us will miss you!" barked Sunpelt, slapping Lupine on the back so hard that he fell over and got a face full of dirt.

"Bye-bye!" yipped Ivyberry and Storkwing, Lupine's two younger adopted sisters. "You too," he smiled, patting them on the head. The wolves and Lupine threw back their heads and howled one last song together, full of sadness and joy all mixed together. Then the wolf pack turned away and headed back into the forest without Lupine.

Suddenly, Lupine was overwhelmed with sadness. "What am I going to do without them?!" he groaned, holding his head in his paws. "You can always go back to them if you're really unhappy," advised Papa, patting him comfortingly on the back. "But for now, why don't you stay awhile? I think you'll enjoy life in the village." "That may be true, but how will I know how to behave? I've been raised by wolves all my life! I don't know how to be a Smurf like everyone else. It's different for them; they've been in the village since they first opened their eyes. I've lived with the wolves forever and already I'm expected to be like everyone else!"

"It's always hard to be the new Smurf on the block. But everyone goes through it, and it's just a part of life. Besides, once you get used to living here, you'll find your talent and you'll be able to contribute to the village! That's something to be proud of. But you won't find your talent right away. Sometimes it takes a few months, for others it's a few years," said Papa. "I mean, look at Clumsy. He didn't find his true path until very recently! But still, he's a good Smurf and you can trust him to always try his hardest." "Easy for _him_, he looks just like everybody else. I, on the other paw, look like a freak!" moaned Lupine. He'd never been ashamed of his appearance before, but now he felt he stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Nonsense! You don't look like a freak at all. You're you and that's what makes you unique! Besides, not everyone here looks like twins," Papa assured him. "For instance, before Narrator came, Brainy was the only Smurf who wore glasses here! Do you think that made him feel a little different?" "Maybe it did. But he didn't look like a werewolf!" "You're more handsome than a werewolf! You're probably cleaner than one too. Urgh, their breath is horrendous! It could knock out Gargamel, it smells so bad," Papa winced.

Lupine couldn't help but laugh at that. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sure I'll get used to it after a while. Maybe I could be the village detective or something. I mean, I've got really good smelling and hearing and things, and I can walk so quietly that nobody hears me!"

"See, you've got your own special talents too! That's the spirit," Papa encouraged. "I'd like to stand around and talk all day, but I've got to get going now. I need to finish up an experiment in my lab this afternoon. If you need any more help, talk to Brainy or my deputy, Blue. It's easy to spot him; he wears red just like I do. See you around!" Papa walked off towards his mushroom, and Lupine was left alone to do his own exploring. "Hmm, maybe I should see if anyone needs help. Perhaps I'll find some new friends if I do some work," he thought out loud, trotting off to see what he could find.

"Hey! Who has a pet wolf around here?" snickered somebody behind Lupine. He turned around and was face-to-face with a mischievous-looking Smurf holding a mysterious giftbox. "Who taught you your manners?! Gargamel?!" snorted Lupine, raising his eyebrows suspiciously. "You're not too polite either, wolfie!" retorted the Smurf. Lupine was starting to get angry.

Suddenly, something took over his body and before he knew it, the Smurf was pinned on the ground underneath him and holding his nose, which was bloody. "Y-you're mean! It w-was j-just a joke! I was going to g-give you a p-present!" whimpered the Smurf, wriggling out of Lupine's grasp and running away to Doctor's house to get his nose bandaged.

Lupine was shocked at how he'd behaved. He normally was not a violent sort of person and he never had attacked a rude guy before. He'd just been so angry about the Smurf teasing him that he'd sort of gone into a rage. He hadn't even had control over it, it happened so fast. "What kind of a Smurf am I?" he said in disbelief just as Blue started to run over.

"BLOOD?! What in Smurf's name is going on around here?!" Blue yelled, leaning over and glancing at a bloodstain on the ground that must have come from the rude Smurf's nose. "This rude guy holding a giftbox came over and started teasing me for looking like a wolf. Then suddenly I got so mad that I flew into a rage or something and the Smurf was pinned under my paws with a bleeding nose. I d-don't know what happened; I d-didn't even have any control over it," explained Lupine, shifting from paw to paw nervously.

"Well, tell it to Papa. I'm not falling for that tomfoolery," sniffed Blue, grabbing Lupine's arm and dragging him towards Papa's house. "Jokey was probably trying to goof around; he's always like that. Thank goodness that you didn't open that giftbox or it would've exploded in your face!" "Was he raised by clowns or something?" Lupine asked, but he didn't get a chance to say any more because just at that moment, Blue knocked on the door and Papa let them into his house, a flabbergasted look crossing his elderly face.

"Can somebody please explain what on Smurf is going on here?! I wasn't exactly expecting to open the door and see Lupine look like he just killed a deer!" "He beat up Jokey because he was teasing him," explained Blue. "Lupine says that he flew into an uncontrollable rage and then the next thing he knew, Jokey was underneath him with a bloody nose, but of course I for one wouldn't fall for THAT kind of pathetic excuse. I figured that you'd probably know what to do about it; you're always breaking up Smurf-fights all the time anyway." "Lupine, maybe you should tell your side of the story," Papa suggested. "Blue, you can let go of him now." Blue did as Papa asked and Lupine sagged to the floor in relief.

"What exactly happened? And no lying," Papa prompted, and Lupine told him what had happened. "I just don't understand," Lupine finished, ignoring Blue's wary glances at him. "I'm normally not the kind of person who goes around beating up people when I'm angry, but I was so steamed that it just sort of happened to me. If I'd been able to control it, I would've. It's just that it happened so fast that I wasn't aware of what I was doing until it was too late." Papa had a worried look on his face and he opened his mouth like he was going to tell them what was on his mind, but he closed it again and just shook his head. "Tell everyone that I'm going to be doing some testing in my lab and that I won't come out until dinnertime," he told Blue, then pushed him and Lupine out the door.

"What was THAT all about? Is he going to turn me into some kind of wolf science experiment?!" asked Lupine in total confusion. Blue shrugged. "All he's probably going to do is look into the past and watch what happened for himself. One time, when Grouchy was screaming at Baby Smurf for getting in his way, Papa used his magic to watch what had happened and concluded that Grouchy did it on purpose. After that, he wasn't allowed to eat sarsaparilla for a week and boy was he mad. I don't even want to THINK about it, his mood was so terrible. But stay out of his way until dinner. When Papa's angry, he's worse than two Grouchys and three Jokeys put together."

"Okay," said Lupine, walking off to his temporary house with his tail between his legs, wondering what he could've done wrong. "I must be a curse," he thought to himself as he curled up in front of the hearth and fell asleep.

…..

"Lupine? Lupine? Hey, wake up! You're going to miss dinner at this rate!" Somebody was shaking Lupine awake. He blinked and saw Brainy leaning over him, trying to wake him up. "Come on, we're having dinner and unless you want to go hungry, you should get going." "I'm just going to beat someone up 'accidentally'," whimpered Lupine, but he followed Brainy outside anyway. He sniffed the air to see what was on the menu for dinner and smelled only berries and sarsaparilla. "Ummm…do you guys have a rabbit leg or something?" "Are you out of your mind?! Who'd want to kill a poor, innocent little rabbit?!" exclaimed Brainy, a horrified look crossing his face.

"Ummm…you forget that I was raised by wolves. I'm not used to eating plants," explained Lupine, his stomach growling with hunger. "Well, I'm afraid that all of us are vegetarian. However, if you're lucky Lazy might've caught some fish, maybe that'd fill you up," suggested Brainy. Lupine sat down at the outdoor table that Handy had set up and scanned the table to see if he could find any meat. The only thing he found was a roasted fish, but it was only as big as his paw and hardly filled him up. He tried sarsaparilla and found that it wasn't bad, but it just didn't taste the same as deer meat, fresh off the carcass.

"ATTENTION!" Papa banged on the table to get everyone's attention. "I have some important announcements to make! First off, something very serious happened today. Lupine and Jokey got into a Smurf-fight…" At this, everyone startled grumbling at once. "ANOTHER SMURF-FIGHT?! What is this village coming to?" "Who won? Ooo, I want to know! Me me!" "Gosh, what were they fighting for? One time I slapped Jokey in the face when he gave me a giftbox, but I've never punched anyone before…" "YOU SLAPPED JOKEY?! Why didn't Papa or Blue find out about it?" "I didn't tell them. I didn't want to get into trouble." "Well, they'll know NOW, you Smurf-brain!" "SILENCE!" Papa called, and the comments stopped. "Like I said, they got into a Smurf-fight and Jokey got a bloody nose. Blue told me that Lupine was out of control and that he didn't believe that he was innocent. Lupine told me that he didn't intend to hurt Jokey, but that he got so mad that he flew into an uncontrollable rage. I was in my lab for a long time today, as you all know, and I was watching the fight to see what really happened. It seemed that both Blue and Lupine were right. Now, I don't want to give Lupine punishment for something that's beyond his control, but he IS guilty of hurting Jokey. I want your input on it. Should I punish Lupine or let him go?"

Once again, everyone began talking at once. "He should get punishment for hurting him; Jokey's my friend after all!" "He shouldn't be punished for something that wasn't his fault; that's unfair!" "You're only saying that because you like wolves, Leafette!" "Should we have another trial?" "NO, you remember what happened last time right?" "Yeah…bad idea!" "Me, I hate people who can't agree on anything!"

"One at a time please," said Papa, and one by one each Smurf stood up and voiced his opinion. Half of them said that Lupine should receive punishment because uncontrollable or not, he did hurt Jokey after all. The other half said that what happened wasn't Lupine's fault and that he shouldn't be punished for something that was uncontrollable. Grouchy didn't take either side, and Jokey was so incensed at Lupine that he said that Papa should just banish him from the village altogether and send him back to his wolf pack. "He's just a wild animal, an uncivilized creature! He's just a blue, furry beast," said Jokey coldly, giving Lupine a murderous look. The hurtful words, combined with the mean stare made Lupine burst into tears and run from the table, sniffling and tucking his tail between his legs.

"Get back here!" called Papa, but Lupine just ran and ran and ran until he burst through the barrier of the village and into the forest. He kept running and running until, sides heaving with exertion, he collapsed at the foot of a sinister-looking castle. He didn't notice an evil figure look through the window and chuckle at him.

Lupine was starting to doze off when something ensnared him and scooped him up. Terrified, he found himself looking into the cold eyes of Gargamel and his cat, Azrael. "A Smurf at last…and a wolf too! This one just came running into my hands; I suppose the village doesn't take very good care of him," snickered Gargamel. Azrael chuckled too. "THEY DO CARE ABOUT ME!" yelled Lupine, but he was starting to feel sleepy and he didn't have that much energy. "It's just….I was….so…mad…and…and …and..." Lupine couldn't go on. There was something about Azrael's eyes that made him feel very relaxed. A fuzzy, warm feeling rose inside his body, and he suddenly felt incredibly exhausted.

He tried to fight the urge to close his eyes, but it was useless and his eyelids drooped. Just before he drifted off, he heard Gargamel say, "Good work, Azrael! I didn't know you could do hypnosis!"

…..

"Lupine! LUPINE!"

"Where are you, little fuzzball of a Smurfie?"

"Where could he have disappeared to? Oh, I hope Gargamel didn't capture him!"

"Be optimistic; maybe he just went home to his wolf pack. You know how upset he was last night."

"I know. Jokey was so mean! I can't believe he'd say something like that in front of everybody."

The Smurfs had searched every nook and cranny of the village and found no sign of the wolfish Smurf. So they'd started to trek out into the forest in search of their new friend. So far, nobody had found anything and they were convinced that Lupine had returned to his wolf pack.

"Look at this! It's a tuft of his fur!" called Brainy, leaning over and picking up something blue and furry. "Good work! He must've headed this way!" agreed Papa, leading the search team in the direction the tuft had been pointing to.

Soon they found a bit of claw along the same path, and some footprints that looked like paws were found a little farther on. The Smurfs kept following the trail with determination and soon found something that made their hearts fall into the soles of their feet.

The trail had led them to Gargamel's castle! "Oh no! He must've captured Lupine! We've got to save him!" exclaimed Papa, going white in the face. "I'm going to start organizing search teams to investigate the castle for signs of Lupine. First, Brainy, Hefty, and Leafette should go in. I'll organize the next search team after them. Go!"

The search team started to climb the stones of the castle and soon they climbed through a window and disappeared from view. There was nothing to do but wait and hope for news of their village member.

…

Lupine felt very, very groggy and he had trouble waking up. He couldn't remember feeling sleepier in his life. _Come on, getting up's not that hard, _he told himself, but his eyelids felt like lead and so did every single square inch of his body. He just wanted to fall asleep again, but he knew he had to open his eyes. If he didn't, then one day he would fall asleep and never wake up again.

So, with great effort, he raised his eyelids and looked around his current surroundings, wondering if he was having a nightmare. Maybe he was really back in his mushroom and the gloomy gray environment he was in was just a mirage. He had a sinking feeling that it was real, though, and almost fainted when he saw Gargamel and Azrael watching him through the bars of his cage. "Wh-where am I? L-let me g-go! I d-don't w-want to die, I'm only 100 after all!" he stammered, trying to stand up but failing. "I see you're awake now, little Smurf," cackled Gargamel. "I can't decide: should I drain you first, or do tests on you? You seem to be more than the average annoying Smurf…"

Lupine felt scared, but he was so drowsy that he could care less what was going to happen to him. He tried to make an effort to look scary. He hunched his back and bared his teeth in a ferocious snarl. Gargamel only laughed and walked off into the dark depths of the castle for who-knows-what reason. Lupine was convinced that nothing he could do would scare Gargamel and decided to sleep again. _It'll only be a minute, _he promised himself. He curled up on the icy cage floor, wrapping his tail around himself.

He'd just started to fall asleep when he heard something running on the castle floor near his cage. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, looking around to see what it was. His vision was blurry, but he could make out the shapes of a group of something small. It was red and blue and white, and he thought that it must be some kind of magical cloud. _Must be something Gargamel created to kill me, _he thought despairingly.

Then the cloud surrounded his cage and started calling his name. "What is it?" Lupine asked groggily, getting to his feet with a tremendous effort. "Lupine, what happened to you? You look like something knocked you in the head!" said the figure closest to him that looked a lot like Papa. "I-I fell asleep…the cat's eyes….so groggy…let me sleep…" said Lupine, annoyed. Couldn't he take a nap in peace?

The figure said something more, and the cage started to move. Lupine felt a flicker of hope rise inside him. Was he going to be freed? He lifted his head and tried to help the blue things free him by pushing the cage as hard as he could.

The next thing he knew, he was falling onto the stone, and something cold and hard slapped into his body as he hit the floor. That brought him to his senses, and he gnawed through the weakened bars of the cage. "Come on! Gargamel will be here any second!" said Lupine, running for his life. The others followed him as well, but Papa was lagging behind for some odd reason. "Hurry up! You don't want to become Smurf-meat, do you?" said Lupine, stopping in his tracks.

Papa was staring at a sickly yellow light that was seeping through one of the windows. It looked like some kind of steam, and Lupine wondered if Gargamel had made it on purpose. It was swirling like a portal, and seemed almost hypnotic. Papa's eyes glazed over, and he started to walk towards it as if he were in a trance. "Hey, ummm..everyone's left…you might want to hurry up..." Lupine said, but it was as if to Papa nothing existed but that strange light.

Just at that moment, Gargamel burst into the room, cackling delightedly when he saw that he'd be able to capture two Smurfs instead of one. "YOU'LL NEVER CATCH US!" yelled Lupine, grabbing Papa and climbing out the window of the castle using the stones as footholds.

Soon, he jumped onto the ground where everyone was waiting. "What's with Papa? He looks hypnotized!" said Blue worriedly. "I don't know, but let's scram! Gargamel and Azrael will be on our tails any minute now!" said Lupine, and every raced off towards the village as fast as they could, Lupine dragging Papa behind him.

Soon they raced through the barrier and were safe at last. Gasping, Lupine let go of Papa and his tongue flopped out of his mouth as he panted. "Guess…_pant_…we're safe…_pant_…" gasped Lupine. "But…_pant_…Papa doesn't look any better…_pant_…" "Yeah, he looks really weird. He looks like he saw a ghost or something! I don't even think he recognizes us!" said Blue, gnawing on his fingers. "We need to wake him up!" "Can I try?" said Jokey, a mischievous glint shining in his eyes. "I guess?" said Blue, backing up as Jokey gave Papa one of his famous exploding presents.

The blast knocked Papa backwards and he hit his head on the ground. "Ouch…what happened?" he groaned, rubbing his head. He suddenly felt like he was catching a cold and thought that maybe he'd caught a chill from being inside Gargamel's freezing castle. "Are you okay? You look sort of sick," said Clumsy. "Do you need a blanket or something?" "I'm fine," Papa insisted, "I think I just need to take a rest." He started walking towards his mushroom, leaving everyone very worried about their beloved leader.

….

"Papa's SICK?! Oh no, he should never have come into the castle to save me!" Lupine gasped as Blue announced the awful news. "I wonder if it had something to do with that weird light he was looking at in the castle?" "Beats me," shrugged Brainy, a worried look on his face. "This is really bad. He's never caught a cold before. He's stronger than a dragon." "What kind of cold is it exactly? Maybe he just has a cough or something," asked Lupine. "Doctor doesn't know! He says he's never come across that kind of illness before. That's the scariest part," said Smurfette, wringing her hands. "I hope he's okay! I mean, Blue would be a good leader, but it just won't be the same without him…"

"Poor guy. Maybe I ought to go visit him," Lupine suggested. "You know, to see how he's doing and all that…" "Definitely NOT! Doctor's ordered everyone to stay away from him, even his wife. He doesn't want anyone catching the cold, especially if it turns out to be some kind of dangerous flu and it starts a whole epidemic or something," Brainy said. Just then, Blue finished the announcement and everyone was excused to go about their business.

However, Lupine found that he couldn't concentrate on anything because he was so worried about Papa. He wondered if maybe he should sneak over and visit him anyway. "I mean, it's not exactly like there'll be guards stationed outside his front door or anything. But I don't want to make the village angry at me…they probably mistrust me enough anyway from that stupid incident with Jokey. Oh, which is the better choice?" Lupine fretted aloud to himself, pacing back and forth. "If I follow Blue's instructions, then I won't have to worry about getting caught and nobody will be suspicious of me, but then I'll worry about Papa the whole day long and probably won't get any sleep either. On the other paw, if I see how he's doing, then I might not be so worried and I'll be able to get through the day without being all wound up. But if someone catches me, I'll be the 'untrustworthy Smurf' and I might catch his cold if I see him…"

Lupine finally decided that he'd just pop his head through the window and talk to Papa at a distance, and then he'd run off and get back to work. He felt relieved with his decision and sneaked quietly towards Papa's mushroom. Fortunately, he had been trained by the wolves to be a stealthy hunter and so nobody heard or saw him. He braced himself and opened the window.

Lupine did a double take when he saw the condition that Papa was in. He was coughing like crazy and his nose was dripping like a leaking faucet. He was green in the face and his beard was streaked with snot from his nose. He was shaking all over and his teeth were chattering so hard that you could've heard him from a mile away. On top of all that, he was sweating and looked like he would collapse at any moment.

"Papa! Oh my Smurf…you poor creature…" Lupine trailed off, unable to think of anything to say. He could hardly believe the state that his leader was in. No wonder Doctor hadn't wanted anyone to come near him. "Lupine…you shouldn't be here," rasped Papa, looking at him with watering eyes that were filled with sickness and pain. "You'll just catch my cold too, and then it'll spread like wildfire…" Suddenly, he had a sneezing fit and the sneezing soon turned into coughing. He was keeling over, he was coughing so hard. "_Cough…_you should just…_cough_…leave now…_cough cough cough…_"

"I can't leave you like this! You look awful!" exclaimed Lupine. Suddenly, Papa stopped coughing and gasped raggedly, as if he couldn't catch his breath. "Papa!" screamed Lupine in horror, running off to get Doctor right away. He knew he couldn't just leave his leader alone when he was like this. "DOCTOR! PAPA'S HAVING TROUBLE BREATHING! AND HE'S COUGHING REALLY HARD!" hollered Lupine as soon as he reached Doctor's house. "He can't breathe?! In that case, I need to see him right away!" exclaimed Doctor, following Lupine to Papa's house. "Stay outside," instructed Doctor, leaving Lupine to watch anxiously through the window.

Time seemed to pass slowly and it didn't seem as though Doctor was making any progress with Papa. He just examined him for what seemed the longest time ever and asked Papa questions about his sickness. Finally, Doctor walked out of the house with a worried look on his face. "I'm afraid that Papa has an entirely new disease; at least, entirely new to Smurfkind." "What is it?!" gasped Lupine. "He has…" Doctor paused. "…portal fever."

"Portal fever?! What's that?" asked Lupine. "Portal fever is when someone stares at a cursed portal for so long that it hypnotizes them and leaves them in a paralyzed state so that the sickness can infect the victim. Once the subject snaps out of the trance, the fever is in their body and they can't get it out. The only way to cure it is to make them look at a reflector portal or…they have to drink a special potion. And I'm afraid that it will be impossible to make. Reflector portals are very difficult to find too, and portal fever makes the victim look away from reflector portals, so it's very hard to get them to look at one to counteract the illness." "What exactly makes the potion so hard to get? I'll bet you ten to one that half of the herbs are in Papa's lab," Lupine said.

"For one thing, most of the herbs needed for the potion are extremely rare and difficult to get. But the thing that is the hardest to obtain is that you need to get hairs from the person who made the cursed portal in the first place, as well as hairs from everyone involved or nearby them when they made the portal. Which would mean someone would have to sneak into Gargamel's castle and collect hairs from him and Azrael, which would be incredibly risky. It's far easier to just see if Papa can fight it off on his own and look for reflector portal sites in the meantime…"

"But we can't just let him suffer! He looks so awful; it just breaks my heart to see him that way. And anyways, how do you know that it's not just a really nasty flu or cough?" "I know because there's no other known illness that a person can receive from hypnosis or staring at a portal. Besides, he has all the symptoms of it: coughing fits, ragged breathing, a fever that constantly switches from very low to very high, bouts of sweating…no other disease has the same symptoms."

"I'll go get the hairs from Gargamel and Azrael," said Lupine bravely. He knew he'd have to be very careful, but it was a challenge that he was willing to take on. "No way! It's too dangerous," said Doctor. "It's not. I'm very good at sneaking around; I mean, nobody knew that I was at Papa's house until I ran screaming down the street, did they?" "You've got a point there," said Doctor. "I suppose that I can let you go, but you should get Blue's permission first. I feel bad about Papa's fever as well, and the sooner he's healthy, the sooner he can return to being leader and the sooner his quarantine can end."

Lupine didn't stay around any longer, because as soon as Doctor said it was okay for him to leave, he took off like a shot down the street to find Blue and get permission to journey to Gargamel's castle.


	4. Chapter 3: The Sickness

Chapter Three: The Sickness

Papa was having a dream about walking in the forest, listening to the birdsong and enjoying the peace. All would have been normal, but he suddenly heard a scream of pain and a terrified squawking. He raced to the scene and saw a she-griffin being taken away in a cage by Gargamel while her baby cowered in terror.

Time passed rapidly, and suddenly a week had passed. The little creature was now all skin and bones. He was desolate and wanted his mother. In the dream, he was squawking pathetically, and Papa couldn't help feeling sorry for him. "It's all right, little one. I'll take you back to the village with me and everything will be okay." He reached out and stroked the griffin's soft, furry head.

Something velvety brushed against Papa's body and roused him from his slumber. He found to his surprise that he really _was _in the forest, stroking a griffin chick's head. He must've somehow sleepwalked and left the village when nobody was looking. He had a feeling that what he had just seen in his dream was real. He knew that he couldn't leave the poor little chick all alone like this.

The only problem Papa had was of getting it back to the village. It looked too young to fly, and he certainly wasn't going to carry it all the way there. He had a sudden inspiration: Did the griffinling like Smurfberries, perhaps?

He rummaged in his pockets and found that he still had a jarful of them left. He started to walk back in the direction of the village, stopping occasionally to drop a Smurfberry behind him. He passed through the barrier and walked a few paces, then checked to see if the griffin was behind him.

He was pleased to see that it had followed him back. It was now looking around the village in wonder. He started to take the griffin back to his house, but just at that moment Doctor spotted him. "Papa! What in Smurf's name are you doing outside?! You need to get back in your mushroom before your portal fever spreads!" he scolded. "And what is this _griffinling _doing inside of the village walls?! You know full well that griffins are dangerous beasts; your fever can't have made you THAT delirious!"

"I didn't go outside on purpose; I was sleepwalking and I wound up in the forest by this griffin chick," Papa explained calmly. "The dream that made me sleepwalk showed that the griffin's mama had been captured by Gargamel, and he's been alone and hungry for an entire week! I knew I couldn't just leave him by himself, so I lured him home using Smurfberries. I'll make sure that he won't bother anyone else. I'll get back to my house right now." Papa walked off towards his mushroom with the griffinling following curiously behind, and Doctor ran off mumbling about how maybe he should get Gutsy and Hefty to stand outside Papa's house so he wouldn't walk outside.

Papa then ordered the griffin to sit behind his house. Then he tied it up with a piece of strong rope and a post hammered into the ground by a surprised Handy. Then he walked inside his house and sat down on his couch, shivering feverishly despite the crackling hearth and the blanket wrapped around him. Then he lay down and fell asleep again.

….

When Papa woke up, he was boiling like a pot of hot water and sweating like crazy. He threw the blanket off of him, put out the fire, and opened all the windows, but he still was hot. He thought that maybe he should get Doctor to help him, but he decided against it. He could handle this on his own; lately Doctor had just become an annoyance to him.

He decided to take a cold bath. That seemed to cool him down for a bit. But after a few minutes, the water turned warm and he had to get out again. After that, he was boiling all over again. His temperature was skyrocketing with every minute, and for a moment of feverish delirium he imagined his beard melting off of him. He started to panic when an absurd idea popped into his head: he imagined himself jumping into the river and swimming in there until his fever cooled down.

He jumped out of a window and started to run towards the river. Of course, Doctor spotted him as soon as he was one inch out of his house. "What are you THINKING?! The river water will just make your fever worse!" scolded Doctor, holding onto Papa's arm to keep him from continuing. "B-but I'm so h-hot..." Papa gasped, sweating trickling into his eyes as he spoke. "I f-feel like I'm m-melting…" "Why don't you take off your hat?" suggested Doctor. "Ok?" said Papa awkwardly before taking off his hat.

However, that didn't seem to help either, and it just made him feel uncomfortable and vulnerable. He put his hat back on, but that just made his fever even higher. He was so hot that steam was actually rising off of his skin like smoke from a bonfire. "Urggh…" he groaned, collapsing weakly onto the ground. "PAPA! ARE YOU OKAY?!" hollered Doctor, but maybe it just felt like he was screaming because it seemed that Papa's ears were playing tricks on him. The world was blurry and spinning around, and stars were dancing before his eyes.

Just as he thought that he was going to black out, something soft and downy brushed against him, and he recognized the shape of the griffin. It laid its chin on his forehead, and suddenly his strength leaped back to him. A soothing magic spread through his veins, clearing his head and cooling his fever. His vision focused, and the stars went away. He wasn't dizzy anymore, either. He blinked and sat up, giving the griffin a grateful look. "Thanks for saving my life," he said, stroking its chin. The griffin chirped quietly and nuzzled him in reply.

"This griffin knows HEALING MAGIC?!" Doctor exclaimed in disbelief, gazing at the incredible creature that had just performed the unimaginable. "He must be very powerful," Papa smiled, getting to his feet. "I'm sure that he'll be very helpful with skills like THAT in the future." "I'm sure that he will, but there's something that we know _now_: that your portal fever is worse than we thought. I hope that Lupine comes back soon; otherwise…" Doctor hesitated. He wasn't sure if Papa could take the truth in his weakened state. "Otherwise _what_?" Papa demanded, getting an oh-no-this-can't-possibly-be-good feeling in his chest.

"Otherwise…" Doctor paused. "…it could kill you." "WHAT?! Please tell me that I didn't hear you correctly," Papa gasped, getting dizzy again. "I'm afraid you DID hear me correctly. From your little 'burning up' episode today, it seems that it's a very dangerous disease; one that needs treatment as soon as possible. Otherwise, it could just get worse and worse until it overcomes you completely and kills you off."

Doctor saw that Papa looked like he was going to collapse again, so he reassured him," But with that griffin friend of yours, you'll be able to combat the symptoms, so your time to fight off the fever is extended. Lupine is also very good at sneaking around and he's got great senses; he's also very speedy. I'm sure he'll be back with the ingredients soon. In the meantime, you need to get back to your mushroom and rest. You should probably also eat something if you can; that will help to strengthen you and it might help to fight the fever also."

"Let's hope so," groaned Papa, leaning heavily on the very concerned griffinling as he staggered home. "Otherwise I'm doomed for sure." He wished he'd never asked Doctor how bad the fever was. It just made him feel even worse. Suddenly, he started to cough and he leaned over, clutching his stomach.

"Oh no, here we go again!" groaned Doctor as Papa's knees gave way and he collapsed to the ground, forcing the griffinling to heal Papa once again.

….

Lupine's heart beat as though it was racing as he timidly reached out and plucked hairs from Gargamel's scalp as he slept. "Come on; you can do this," he whispered to himself, putting the hairs in a satchel that he'd brought with him. He waited a few minutes to see if Gargamel would wake up, but to his relief he didn't move at all. Lupine grabbed a few more hairs and then quietly walked to the foot of Gargamel's bed, where Azrael was curled up in a snoring orange heap.

Lupine gulped and walked very slowly towards the cat. This was going to be far harder, as he knew that Azrael was very alert and that pulling a cat's hair would be like tickling someone while they were sleeping. Therefore, he wouldn't be able to collect as many and he'd have to be fast.

He shut his eyes and reached out, grabbing a clump of hairs off of Azrael. He opened his eyes to see if he'd moved and to his relief, Azrael only rolled over and snored. He stuffed the clump into his satchel and sneaked quietly out of the castle, going through the window he'd opened up and climbing down the stones of the castle walls.

However, something really terrible happened when he was halfway down the wall. Azrael opened his eyes and got up, sniffing around to look for a nighttime snack. His keen green eyes soon spotted Lupine climbing down the wall, and he let out a wail of alarm to his master, who quickly woke up. "IT'S THAT SMURF-WOLF! AZRAEL, AFTER HIM!" bellowed Gargamel, and Azrael leaped out the window and scuttled down after Lupine.

Lupine was so shocked and frightened that he forgot where he was and let go of the wall, falling like a stone to the ground. He didn't realize what he'd done until it was too late, and he yelped in pain as his body smacked into the stony earth. For a few moments, he was winded and he couldn't move. There was a searing pain all over his body, particularly in his back and his left leg.

He tried to get to his feet, but the pain was too severe to allow him to move. He wondered if he'd broken a bone or something. Azrael was stalking ever closer, and Lupine could only watch helplessly as the ferocious feline came nearer.

In desperation, he came up with a last-minute idea: he raised his head to the skies and howled for help. He howled and howled, hoping that his pack or another friendly wolf might come and save him. By the time that his voice box had been worn out, Azrael was so close that Lupine could smell his fishy breath. Azrael bared his fangs and prepared to bite Lupine on the neck. "Goodbye, Smurfy world…" he whimpered as he prepared to die.

But as Azrael was sinking his fangs into his flesh, something snarled and smacked the cat out of the way. Then he was picked up by the scruff of the neck, and pounding footsteps echoed throughout the night as a dark-furred canine raced with Lupine to what he hoped was safety.

He hoped that this wolf's pack had a healer, because the pain had grown worse than ever and now he had a bite mark on his neck and the wolf's fangs were accidentally digging into his skin. He yipped weakly in pain and the wolf dropped him on the ground in concern. "Are you okay? Was I holding you too tight?" the wolf asked concernedly in a gruff, deep voice. Lupine nodded weakly and replied, "I…fell down…a castle wall…my leg and my back…hurt…so…bad…"

The wolf's yellow eyes widened in shock as he registered what Lupine had just said. "In that case, we've got to get you to my pack's healer right away! You poor creature; I can't believe you fell from a castle wall! That's wolfsurd!" More gently this time, he picked Lupine up by the scruff of his neck again and raced faster than ever, his paws flying over the earth. In no time Lupine was surrounded by wolves of all colors and sizes as his rescuer entered his packhome.

"A Smurf?! I thought those were from pup stories!" gasped a pretty red-brown she-wolf with violet eyes, leaning over in concern at their visitor. "This one even looks like US!" snorted a muscular black wolf, sniffing Lupine suspiciously with his large dark nose. "That's because I was raised in the pack Aluraris for one hundred years! I've only recently returned to the village," explained Lupine, sitting up but falling back again as the pain seared into his very core. He winced in pain and whimpered.

"Aluraris? We're allies with them! Perhaps we can return you to them," said the alpha of the pack, a brown he-wolf with eyes like the moon. "No, I'd like to go home to the village…I just need to be healed first. I feel like a broken bone," said Lupine, wondering how much more of the pain he could take. It had gotten worse during his swift journey to the stranger's packhome and it was sharper than a cold knife.

"Of course you do! We'll take you to our healer right away," said the violet-eyed she-wolf, gently dragging Lupine through the snow to a small den nearby. Inside, a white she-wolf with emerald green eyes was tending to patients with various illnesses and injuries in a cozy, warm space. "Kira, Dolu found this little Smurf outside of a castle, and he's really injured. He told Dolu that he apparently fell from a castle wall, and he looks like he's got some broken bones," explained the red-brown she-wolf, lying the whimpering Lupine down in a bed of leaves. "Can you help him?"

"Of course! A noble healer never turns her back on a creature in need," replied the white she-wolf, her pretty eyes widening with astonishment when she saw the state that Lupine was in. "Run along now, Violetta; I've got this under control." Kira leaned over Lupine and examined him with expert paws, and in a minute she had diagnosed his injuries. "I'm afraid that you have a broken leg, and your back is broken too, and you have a pretty nasty bite as well. Luckily, the bite will heal soon, but you'll have to stay with us for many moons until your broken bones heal." "A BROKEN BACK?! Am I going to live?" yipped Lupine with alarm, his eyes widening at the news.

"You're a very lucky Smurf. Most healers wouldn't be able to treat a broken back, particularly a condition like yours. However, I've received more training than most and I've discovered some new healing techniques, so I'll be able to help your back. But like I said, you'll have to stay with us for a while," explained Kira, gathering supplies to make a cast for Lupine's broken bones. "OH NO! I need to get back to the village now! Can't you just carry me there on your back? I've got a really important delivery to make!" Lupine fretted, worrying that if a wolf carried his satchel to the Smurfs that they would lose the precious hairs. And what if they scared his family?

"Sorry, you really do need to rest; I don't think it would be wise to move," said Kira regretfully, starting to make the cast for Lupine's leg as she spoke. "How important is this delivery of yours? Are you sure that it's not just a normal letter that could wait a month to be delivered?" "No, it's a potion ingredient. Our village leader is really sick, and I was gathering some potion components so I could help Doctor make the potion to cure our leader," explained Lupine. "He's really, really ill; I don't want to wait months upon months to deliver the ingredients in case he…in case he dies."

"It must be a very serious illness!" frowned Kira, narrowing her green eyes. "What was he diagnosed with?" "Portal fever. Doctor has never heard of it before now," explained Lupine worriedly. "Portal fever! Oh, that's not at all hard to treat! Luckily, I've got the herbs for the potion; I assume you've got the hairs?" "Yup!" replied Lupine happily, relieved that he'd get some help in delivering the components to Doctor. "Ok then! I'll put them in that satchel of yours, and I'll deliver it to the village personally today or tomorrow. Where is your village?"

"Ummm…it's a few miles south of Aluraris' territory…it's Papa's village, if that helps at all in identifying it." "Papa?! I remember him! I've seen him walking around near our territory gathering herbs before. He seems like such a nice guy; I'd be honored to help him!" "It seems like everyone knows Papa!" Lupine exclaimed. "I knew that a lot of forest inhabitants knew of him, but I didn't know he was _that _famous!"

"We'll have time to talk later; in the meantime you need to rest," said Kira gently, finishing the cast for Lupine's leg and starting on his back. "It'll help to speed your recovery, and the sooner you're healed, the sooner you can go home to Papa. Besides, I'll bet you're probably exhausted from all the excitement." Kira was right; Lupine WAS tired. He yawned and tried to keep his eyes open, but before he knew it he'd drifted off to sleep.

…..

"I hope Lupine comes back soon," muttered Doctor, pacing back and forth inside his mushroom. "Papa's condition has just gotten worse; tragedy will strike if he doesn't get cured soon."

Unfortunately, Doctor was correct: Papa's portal fever had gotten worse over the past few days. Papa's fever had risen, and he was constantly overheating or getting frozen. He also refused to eat anything, and he'd become as thin as wire in an alarmingly short amount of time. He'd shown no interest in anything, and he'd been spending most of his time sleeping. He also wouldn't drink much water, despite Doctor's desperate attempts to get him to drink anything; he'd become very dehydrated as a result.

The worst part of his condition, though, wasn't his physical state. Papa's mental state had become alarmingly unwell. He got up frequently and paced with glazed eyes and a thoughtful expression on his face as he muttered to himself, as if he couldn't make up his mind about something. He'd sometimes babble for hours about nothing in particular, none of his words making any sense. He barely recognized anyone, and he'd become disturbingly delirious. There was no doubt about it: Papa was nearing the verge of death.

It wasn't only Doctor who was becoming anxious; the whole village was disturbed as well, particularly Mama. It seemed like a dark stormcloud hung over the village nowadays; everyone had become depressed and dull within a matter of days. Nobody sang while they worked anymore, and no one had the desire to play or throw a party. Even their hats seemed droopier than usual.

The one who was affected the most was the griffinling. He'd become Papa's personal healer and he'd been forced to stay awake 24/7 just to keep Papa alive. This wouldn't have been a problem, but it seemed that Papa had to be healed every two minutes and the griffinling would have to heal him right away before he lost consciousness, as had happened on a few occasions before when he wasn't fast enough. As a result, the griffinling had barely had any time to sleep or rest, and his eyes had dark shadows under them. He barely had had a moment to eat or drink as well and was looking just as starved and dehydrated as Papa.

Then the day came when the griffinling decided that he had had enough of being the healer. He was going to give himself a day off, and nobody was going to stop him.

First off, he broke the rope that Papa had tied around his neck to keep him from escaping and stretched his wings before taking a stroll around the village. He chirped and enjoyed the sensation of stretching his legs before he got Lazy to feed him a few fish, which he gobbled down happily. Then he went to the river to fish and he managed to catch quite a few large critters, and his stomach was soon full in no time. Then he gulped down so much water that it was as if he was training to become a camel.

After that, he went for a stroll in the forest and enjoyed the sunlight filtering through the trees and the delightful crunching of snow underfoot as he walked. He even managed to flutter a little above the ground; he couldn't wait to show off when he came back!

Soon, he decided to rest and found a comfy patch of sunlight under a great oak tree. He curled up and fell asleep, intending only to take a short nap, but instead slept for a solid eight hours.

That was when disaster struck.

For you see, Papa's fever was rising like magma in a volcano, and he had his worst 'burning up' episode yet. He was drenched so heavily in sweat that it clung to him like a misty cloak. His eyes were drying up like he was being burned in a fire. His beard was sopping like a wet mop, and steam was coming off of his skin like thick smoke. Worst of all, he became so delirious that he lost all common sense and did something that would've killed him for sure: he ran to Gargamel's castle.

No one noticed what he'd done until it was too late. Doctor was the first person to notice that Papa was gone. "OH NO! HE'S LEFT! Who saw him leave?!" shrieked Doctor, his heart thumping in panic. "He was heading towards Gargamel's castle," said Gutsy helpfully. "Can't imagine why he'd do that." "OH NO! He's gone crazy! Where did the griffinling go? It's his job to save him, after all!" fretted Doctor, running off into the forest after his patient despite the village's frantic calls of warning.

It was then that the griffinling awoke and returned to the village, guilty for playing hooky and thinking that he ought to check on Papa. You can imagine his surprise when he saw the village panicking and worried as if they'd been attacked.

The griffinling soon learned that Papa had run off to Gargamel's castle and Doctor had followed him. The griffinling knew that he'd never get to Papa in time, so he had to try the impossible: he must fly.

He stretched his wings out and leaped into the air, flapping them as soon as he was airborne. To his surprise, he found that he could fly! He flapped his wings furiously, too concerned about Papa to be proud of his achievement. He flew like a dart through the forest until he came to Gargamel's castle and landed in the forest nearby.

Using his superior griffin senses, he soon tracked down Doctor and Papa. He was expecting to see Doctor holding back Papa and scolding him for once again being delirious and not to do anything stupid like this again. Instead a horrific sight met his bright eyes.

Papa was out cold on the earth, flat on his back. He showed no signs of reviving or even breathing. A terrified Doctor was trying desperately to awaken him. The griffinling was panicked, but he knew that it was his job to save Papa. He took a deep breath and laid his chin on Papa's forehead, concentrating and trying to send out the healing magic that had saved Papa's life so many times before.

To his horror, when he sent the magic into Papa's body, he felt no signs of life there that could signal that he was alive. All he sensed was blackness and fever. It was as if he had no more life in him than a stone or dead wood. The griffin squawked sadly to Doctor, his worst fear shining in his expressive eyes.

"No…don't tell me that he's…" Doctor said, but he had the same sinking feeling in his chest that the griffinling did. "Papa's not d-dead! No! Please tell me that I'm dreaming…" But the griffinling didn't say anymore. He simply laid his huge head on Papa's chest and cried silver tears of mourning.

….

Something very, very heavy was pressed onto Papa's chest; something so hefty that he couldn't breathe. He felt too weak and fevered to try to move it, or even move at all. There was no reason why he should move anyway. He was going to die. Why should he get up at all if his last breath was coming near?

He didn't even think that he should open his eyes either. He was too exhausted to do such a little thing and there was no point to that either. All there would ever be of life was darkness and feelings, nothing more. The heaviness was pressing down harder, and something wet was on his skin, cooling him down if only slightly.

He willed the wetness to keep coming. Perhaps if it kept up it would do the impossible and cool him down completely. It was a foolish hope that his fever would die down, but still he hoped.

Then something brushed against his cheek that felt like rough fur. A drop of something dripped into his mouth. The drop tasted like ice and cool streams and wind and snow. He liked the sensation and swallowed the drop, thirsting for more. Another drop plopped into his mouth, and he swallowed again. One by one more droplets joined the first two. The more he swallowed, the quicker his strength returned.

Soon, he became strong enough to open his eyes, and he saw that the furry thing that had saved his life was a white wolf with eyes like glittering green gemstones. She wore a satchel on her back that seemed very familiar, but he couldn't remember whose it was. The wolf was holding a clear, faintly blue-tinted potion that must have been the source of the cool droplets that had healed him.

The thing that was pressing down on his chest was the head of the griffinling. His tears dried when he saw Papa's eyes open. Sitting next to the griffin with a look of relief on his blue face was a Smurf that seemed very familiar as well. His mind scrambled as he tried to remember who it was. All the memories he could recall were of the Smurf being very annoying, altough he was only trying to help. He didn't try to remember anymore. The only thing that was important now was gaining enough strength to be able to sit up.

He gulped and tried to say something, but his mouth was too dry and he forgot what he was going to say. He knew that he had to say something, but he didn't know what. He blinked very slowly and the details around him became sharper, as though a camera lens had been focused. His other senses focused too, but the only thing that was important now was sight. He lay on the earth for a few moments before trying the next difficult task: sitting up.

He wasn't sure if he'd be able to do it or not. His limbs felt sluggish and it felt like years had passed since he'd sat up last, though he knew that it probably wasn't THAT long. He pushed aside the thoughts and concentrated on the impossible task that he knew he must accomplish. He moved his arms until he positioned them to prop himself up. Then slowly, slowly, slowly he pushed his back upright until he was sitting. Triumph flooded his veins when he achieved the task, and he knew that soon he would be able to get to his feet.

He licked his lips and swallowed to moisten his mouth and lips before he spoke, for he knew that he would have to tell someone the truth that now sang through his brain like a musical note. "My fever is gone now," Papa announced to the world. "YOUR FEVER IS GONE?! OH, THANK SMURF!" exclaimed the Smurf, giving Papa a breathquenching hug that nearly knocked him out again. "The wolf here is responsible for that. Thank you," Papa said gratefully but weakly to the wolf. She nodded before she answered him. "No problem. Lupine was very helpful; he sent me the hairs that I needed to create the portal fever potion. Due to injuries he received while retrieving the hairs, he'll have to stay with us for a few moons, but you'll be able to visit him, at least."

"If I ever get the strength to walk," Papa said dejectedly, his mind still a bit sluggish from his recovery. "How am I going to get back to the village?" As if answering him, the griffinling scooped Papa and the other Smurf onto his back and flew in the direction of the village. He let out a melodious, glorious cry of triumph.

"He can FLY?! Wow, he's amazing!" exclaimed the Smurf, whooping delightedly as the world sped past on swift wings. Papa, dazed as he was, also enjoyed the flight and liked the feeling of the wind rushing past and caressing his beard. He found that he was able smile, too.

Before long, the forest had vanished and the griffinling had landed in the village again. The whole village was cheering at the triumphant return of their leader. "Doctor, he looks so much better! What healed him?" asked a Smurf with glasses that he vaguely remembered to be Brainy as Doctor hopped off the griffinling and helped Papa dismount as well. "Apparently Lupine found a wolf pack, and one of their kin, who I believe was their healer, got the hairs from him and made the portal fever potion. She gave it to him and he seems better now; though he does seem a bit stiff and sluggish."

"That's no surprise, considering the state he was in," said Brainy. "Hopefully he'll get even stronger after he eats and drinks something." Papa didn't hear anymore because he realized how thirsty he was and he started to walk stiffly towards his mushroom. His limbs felt like jagged wood as he walked. If he'd been listening, he would've heard the cheers of the Smurfs when they saw that he was better, but the only thing that he was thinking about was water.

He finally got to his mushroom and entered. Papa then looked around for the nearest drink he could find. The closest thing to him was a glass of water from earlier when Doctor had been trying to convince him to swallow some fluids. He grabbed it and gulped down the water ravenously, the coolness of it quenching some of his thirst. He found another glass of it and gulped that down too and kept drinking until he was hydrated once again.

He would've eaten something too, but he was too tired to do anything more. Exhausted, he curled up on the couch in front of the hearth and fell into a contented sleep.

…..

"I'm SOOOO bored! Are you sure that I have to lie around for six moons until my back heals?" complained Lupine. He crossed his arms and furrowed his brow in frustration at the thought of not being able to move for a half-year. "Sorry, Lupine, but you know what I'm going to say. If you move, you'll just break your back again, and then it'll take twice as long for it to heal. You might have to stay with us for a year or more! You wouldn't want THAT, would you?" replied Kira, patting him on the head.

Lupine scowled and ducked from her paw. "A year is like one second to a Smurf! I think you're making it up; I'm probably just fine and you're keeping me here because you've never seen a Smurf before!" Lupine knew that what he was saying was nonsense. However, he did wish that he could find a way to pass the time swiftly so that he didn't have to spend his days counting the seconds until he was with his family again.

The only thing that he could do was talk to the other patients and Kira, but that didn't keep him amused for long. He had begun to miss the village terribly. In fact, most of his time was spent reminiscing on fun times past and the village members he loved: Papa, with his wise gentle eyes and his loving ways; Brainy, with his clever but bossy manner; sweet, feminine Smurfette; cheeky Jokey. It was nice to be among wolves again, but it just wasn't the same as being with his true family.

However, fate had seemed to take pity on Lupine, for today and the days to follow there would be something more to do to pass the hours than sleeping and asking Kira for the hundredth time if he was healed enough to go home.


	5. Chapter 4: Love at First Smurf

Chapter Four: Love at First Smurf

The griffinling shook out his golden wings and launched himself into the air, letting the cool night breeze make his fur ripple as he flew into the dark sky, only guided by the silvery moon. He let out a cry and it echoed throughout the night like melodic harmonies. Soon, another, agonized cry joined his, and he cocked his ear in the direction of the sound. He flapped his wings and soon found himself on the roof of Gargamel's castle.

He flew through a window and saw a terrible sight: it was his mother, locked in a cage with a dejected expression on her face. Her once gloriously colored feathers were charcoal black, and it seemed half of her fur and feathers had been burnt off. Her eyes were dull and her talons were chipped. She was listless and her reddened eyes had a wild, desperate look in them, as if she'd gone mad during her imprisonment.

"Jaro," she called out weakly to her son, and the griffinling flew to her cage in an eye's blink. "Mother! Oh Mother, what has become of you?" wept the griffinling, unable to believe what he was seeing. "The terrible sorcerer-man has drained me of my magic…I must escape, or I won't live," said his mother, her eyes pleading to be rescued. "I'll take you home, Mother! My Smurf buddies will save you!" squawked the griffinling, picking the lock of the cage with his talons and freeing his mother in an instant.

"No, Jaro…" started his mother, but the griffinling had already picked her up in his claws and begun flying towards the Smurf Village. He let out a cry of pain and sorrow, letting the wind carry it the rest of the distance to the Smurf's ears. Soon, tiny blue dots speckled the forest floor, and the griffinling landed and laid his mother on the ground in front of the bewildered and saddened Smurfs.

"What a beautiful griffess! What's wrong with her?" asked Papa, examining the griffin's mother with alarmed eyes. "Gargamel hurt her," explained the griffinling, laying his head on her neck and concentrating on sending out the healing magic that he'd used so often on Papa. However, though he tried his hardest, it seemed that it wasn't having much of an effect. "Help me heal her!" he called, and Papa rushed off to his lab to fetch healing potions while Doctor began to bandage the griffess' wounds.

"I'm not going to live much longer, son…" said the griffess, her eyes shining with tears of agony. "It's okay, Mother, we'll help you. Hang in there…" said the griffinling, squeezing his eyes as he sent out the most powerful healing magic that he'd ever created. Still, there was no effect. The griffess was dying, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"Jaro…wherever I am, know that I love you and will always watch you," the griffess said as her labored breathing slowed. "No, Mother, please…hang on..." begged the griffinling as Papa arrived with the healing potions and started to apply them to her wounds. "Jaro…" said the griffess, her eyes filled with grief and pain. "Sachira…" said the griffinling, equally sad.

The two griffins looked at each other for another heartbeat, then the griffess' eyes slowly closed until the life in them was covered by a black veil. "MOTHER!" wailed the griffinling, his heart broken to shards. "Mother, please wake up. We can save you; I know that we can…" But she was gone. She was in the afterlife now, and she'd never come back.

The griffinling threw back his head and let out a wail of grief and mourning and pain and loss that made your heart break and your eyes water just to hear it. He wailed and wailed and wailed; then at long last the heartrending noise stopped. He closed his eyes and started to hum a tune, which grew louder and louder and soon formed itself into words and a song:

_Sachira, O Sachira,_

_Destiny is calling you._

_Fly into the cloud-land, feel the air under your wings_

_See the sun setting, the angels laughing_

_Sachira, O Sachira,_

_Destiny is calling you._

_Awaken in the dawn sky, slumber in the sunset_

_My darling, my heart_

_Feel free of the earth, let the air envelope you in an embrace_

_See the spirit-griffins, be one among them_

_Sachira, O Sachira,_

_Feel my grieving love for thee._

_Destiny is calling,_

_O Destiny is calling,_

_Answer the cry_

_Spirit-mother._

_O, Destiny is calling_

The griffinling couldn't sing anymore. His mother was dead and there was nothing he could do about it. He howled with grief and fell down next to his mother's body, weeping tears of agony. The other Smurfs joined in the mourning, sobbing and gently stroking the griffess' charred body. The only one who wasn't participating was Papa. He was looking into the stars and had a thoughtful expression on his face. "If the stars and the planets are right, I can just about do it…" he kept mumbling over and over to himself, his eyes becoming dreamy and far away.

"Papa? What're you doing? This griffinling's mother just died; you should be mourning for her!" scolded Clumsy, shaking Papa's shoulder to snap him out of his reverie. "I'm not promising anything, but I think I know a way that I just might be able to bring her back to life…" said Papa mysteriously, a smile shining in his ancient eyes. "WHAT?!" gasped Clumsy, his heart leaping in joy. He turned around to the mourners and said, "You hear that? Papa might be able to bring the griffess back to life!"

At this, everyone started to cheer as hope rose up within them like a fire beginning to kindle. The griffinling looked as though Papa had just promised that he could give the griffinling the ability to become human and his eyes shimmered with joy like rippling waters in the moonlight. He bowed to Papa with great dignity, rested his chin on Papa's forehead, and softly chirped, "Thank you."

…

Lupine was bored right out of sanity and he was desperately hoping that today would promise something to keep him from lapsing into total madness. Luckily for him, something good would come; but it was both good and bad. It would slash into his mind like wolf's claws for a long time, and it would deliver him from boredom but also deliver him into jealousy, heartbreak, and all else that comes along with love.

It came quite unexpectedly and straight out of the blue. He was just lounging around and wondering for the billionth time whether he was ever going to be able to walk again when he heard footsteps outside Kira's den. He looked up expectantly, hoping with all his heart that it would be something interesting to occupy his mind for a while and help him to pass the time more swiftly.

And it was. The whole village had come to visit him and see how he was doing. "IT'S YOU!" cried Lupine in triumph, trying to sit up but wincing in pain and lying back down again. "LUPINE!" called back Papa, racing towards him and almost breaking his back again with a breathquenching bear hug. "I'm so glad to see you again! We've all missed you so terribly, you see; it's just not the same without you…" "Same to you," smiled Lupine, happy to see his family again. Every single Smurf was there. All of them were grinning happily to see him again. Even Grouchy had grudgingly put a small smile on his face for Lupine.

Lupine was going to talk to Brainy when all of a sudden, he saw the most beautiful female he'd ever seen in his entire life so far. She was prettier than the full moon and her eyes were like polished wood, shining in the sunlight. She had light brown hair and a leaf barrette in her hair. She was wearing an outfit made of leaves and her smile was as bright as a summer night filled with fireflies. Her voice was sweeter than a thousand tons of honey, and generally was the most amazing creature that Lupine had met.

"Ummm…" stammered Lupine, lost in a dreamlike love-trance and not quite sure what to say to get the attention of this stunning lady. "Who-who are y-you?" "I'm Leafette," she replied in that melodiously clear voice of hers, flashing Lupine a tiny grin. "You're a-amazing…" Lupine said, at that moment dreaming of running with her through the snow as the sun set and streaked the sky with magnificent colors. "I've n-never seen a Sm-Smurf like you before…"

Lupine didn't notice that everyone was leaving until suddenly, Leafette was walking away from him and waving goodbye. Lupine couldn't bear the thought of never seeing her again. "Wait!" he called, the pain in his back melting away instantly as he ran to catch up with her, panting and puffing like he was in a marathon. "D-don't go…I can't take it if you go…" "I'll be back soon, never fear," sang Leafette, and she continued on.

Lupine was deaf to everything except Leafette's enchanting voice as he ran faster than he ever had in his whole life to keep up with her. He galloped until his sides aches and his back throbbed, but still he kept at it, determined not to let her out of his sight. Before he knew it, he was back at the village and Leafette had retreated to her mushroom; nowhere to be seen.

It was then that he came to his senses and realized what a foolish decision he had just made. His back hurt like the dickens and he was completely drained of energy. He had an agonizing stitch in his side, and sweat poured off his skin like water seeping out of a bucket. "Can't…_pant_….believe that…_pant_...I ran all the way back…._pant_…just for a female…_pant_…" puffed Lupine as his perspiring tongue stuck out of his mouth. "What came over me…_pant_…Kira would be furious…_pant_…."

"Lupine? Are you all right? You look a little under the Smurf," said Papa worriedly, noticing at just that moment how worn out Lupine looked. "I am…I am…" agreed Lupine, though he wasn't really hearing Papa's words. He was imagining having a romantic dinner out with Leafette.

"You really shouldn't have followed us home, what with the condition your back is in right now…" Papa started to scold, coming over to Lupine to see how he was feeling. "What on Smurf made you do that?!" "Leafette…" said Lupine dreamily, lost in a world of his own and completely oblivious to what was going on around him. "Oh no…this is almost as bad as when Smurfette first came here," Papa groaned, helping the drooling Lupine walk to his mushroom and lie down in front of the fire. "What makes these lovesick Smurfs so brainless is none of my concern…"

"Yeah…" said Lupine, still lost in his romantic daydream of Leafette. Papa sighed and rolled his eyes up at the ceiling, leaving the mushroom muttering to himself, "Lovesick Smurfs…so annoying…it's ridiculous, really…ridiculous…" "Of course, very sensible…" sighed Lupine, imagining Leafette's gorgeous face before he collapsed in front of the fire and fell asleep dreaming of her, slobbering as he thought once more of how stunning she really was.

….

The next day, Lupine had made up his mind that he should do everything that he possibly could to impress Leafette. In fact, he was so in love with her that he even wanted to marry her! "Hmmmm…what should I give a lovely Smurf like herself….I wonder what she likes…" mused Lupine, pacing the floor as he thought. At home, the wolves gave each other gifts and deposited them in front of a loved one's den to show affection, but Lupine wasn't exactly sure what he should get her. A beautiful necklace? A bouquet of the prettiest flowers known to Smurfkind? A ring?

"I should probably get her something simple and sincere; something that shows her how I really feel," mumbled Lupine, tapping his foot on the floor as he thought. "Hmmmm…I know! Back at home, all the girl wolves really, really liked bone jewelry…I should make some for her; she'd love it!" Encouraged by the thought, Lupine silently snuck out of his mushroom and tiptoed outside the village walls, his heart pounding at the thought of the hunt ahead of him.

Soon, he'd caught a sizable rabbit and skinned it, collecting bones and sorting them into little piles. "Now, I need twine or something…hmmm..." Lupine said as he glanced around for something to string the bones together with. His eyes suddenly fell on a daisy patch, and he grinned as he started to string the bones on the daisy stems, singing obliviously to himself as he worked.

He had a good quantity of rabbit fur left over, too. He decided to make a coat for her with it and made a mental note to himself to present it to Tailor and ask him to stitch it up for him when he got home. He'd give her the necklace now, though. It might be a good idea to have something on hand to give her later for a birthday or some such.

Lupine skipped back to the village, ready to present the necklace to Leafette, when he heard a loud shout and a couple of groans nearby. He whipped his head around in shock and saw Papa screaming at a couple of guilty-looking Smurfs who were holding a pile of coins in their hands at the top of his lungs. "What's going on?! And where did all that cash come from?" hissed Lupine to Brainy, who was looking very smug and proud of himself.

"Oh, THAT stuff? We found a golden phoenix's hoard a few months ago, and Papa told everyone not to touch it, especially not the money, as we've had bad experience with currency in the past; however, these two guys apparently snuck out and took some doubloons from right under the phoenix's talons when it wasn't looking…of course, SOMEBODY had to report it to Papa, and so here I am.."

"A golden phoenix's hoard?! You don't mean the Treasure of the Golden Phoenix from that old legend, right?!" gasped Lupine, his eyes widening and his fur bristling in astonishment. Everybody in the forest knew the old story about a magical golden phoenix who guarded a great treasure hidden in a river. Some said that the phoenix was conjured up by a magician to guard the treasure, which was his fortune; others said that the treasure was the phoenix's and it ate all who attempted to steal its hoard.

However, most people thought that it was just a children's story and only a few had ever attempted to search for it. Everyone who did either never came back again or returned empty-handed. If this was the Treasure of the Golden Phoenix from the story, why….why…that was incredible, and who knew what riches might lie in its clutches?! They said that there was enough treasure in the cache to make a person rich for the rest of his lifetime…

"We think it's likely, but we're not sure," replied Brainy, snapping Lupine out of his reverie. "If it is, then it's such a pity what Papa's going to do with all that treasure that Smurf and his friend brought back…" "Why; what's he planning on doing with it?" said Lupine, wondering if maybe he should attempt to locate the phoenix's lair and snag some jewels for Leafette. "That Papa…he practically lives off of morals; I mean, who in their right mind would try and return the treasure to the phoenix?!" snorted Brainy in disgust, as if even thinking such a thing was ludicrous. "Says that we shouldn't disturb an ancient treasure like that, we should just leave it be; and after all it DOES belong to the phoenix and we have no more right to that treasure than a robber…he's going to be returning it tonight and he doesn't want ANYBODY following him in case they think they're going to sneak more treasure when he's not looking…Lupine? Hey, are you listening, wolf boy?!"

Lupine wasn't listening at all. He was off in a daydream, imagining he was presenting the biggest emerald in the world to a delighted Leafette, who was squealing in joy and thanking him and kissing him gratefully. For Lupine had decided that tonight, he was going to sneak after Papa and grab the prettiest gemstone he could find from the phoenix's hoard and present it to Leafette.

After all, what better present is there for a loved one than a big, beautiful jewel from a legendary monster's hoard? It was an even better idea than the bone necklace! With a gift like that, she was sure to fall in love with him. Lupine grinned and trotted off to his house to take a nap so he would be well-rested for the adventure ahead. His nerves were thumping with excitement at the thought of the quest ahead.

…

"Those greedy Smurfs…acting just like humans; I thought I taught them to be better," snorted Papa as he loaded the trinkets into a sack and started off on his journey to the phoenix's nest. He was completely ignorant to the fact that Lupine silently followed him a few yards behind, his eyes shining in the moonlight and his heart thudding loudly under his blue fur.

Papa sighed as he thought of how his Smurfs had behaved; didn't they know how completely wrong it was to take what wasn't yours? All that glitters isn't gold, after all, and taking what doesn't belong to you makes a beautiful treasure look as rusty as corrupted iron. It sometimes felt as though he was the only sensible and moral Smurf in the village, but then he reminded himself that everyone was still young and learning, after all. Besides, MOST of his village members were honest, hard-working Smurfs and treasure always makes everyone grab and snatch, no matter who you are.

It wasn't long before Papa found the glittering cache in the river and the phoenix slumbering in the depths on top of it. Bubbles were rising to the surface as it snored silently. With trembling hands, Papa let the sack with the treasure in it sink to the bottom of the river, offering his humble apologies to the phoenix and hoping that it would forgive him. After all, how many people will return a shiny treasure back to you when they could just easily keep it for themselves and waste it on comfort and luxury?

However, the phoenix didn't seem to see it that way. It woke up as soon as it saw the sack land among its gold and realized instantly that a theft had been committed. Angrily, it looked up and upon seeing Papa figured that he was the one who had taken the coins and so, with a furious screech and a flap of its mighty golden wings, it rose from the river and snatched Papa in its talons, dragging him down to the bottom of the riverbed with Papa screeching and flailing all the while.

Lupine, however, was deaf to all the commotion that was going on; all he could think about was whether Leafette would like a garnet or an emerald better, as he was sifting through the phoenix's gold at the river's banks and rolling the shiny gems over in his hand. He looked at each one carefully before shaking his head and picking out another one. He just couldn't seem to find one that suited Leafette's personality the best. Besides, how can a mere stone reflect the beauty of a living thing?

At long last, however, Lupine thought he had hit the jackpot. He found a lovely gray-and-green opal that shimmered and sparkled with faint tints of brown. It reminded Lupine of Leafette's eyes. "Perfect; she'll howl for joy when she sees this one!" grinned Lupine as he picked up the enormous rock and hefted it into his pocket. "All I have to do is drop it on her doorstep with a love poem and bingo, I've got her attention!"

Lupine started to trot off happily along the river back to the village, but he was only a few paces away when he noticed something rather odd. Papa was nowhere to be seen; he should've deposited those doubloons by now and be starting back as well. "Oh well; perhaps it's taking him longer than he thought," thought Lupine, shrugging and continuing along the riverbank, figuring that Papa would probably join him soon and scold his ears off for following him against orders.

Lupine winced at the thought and fervently hoped that if that happened, Papa wouldn't notice the huge gemstone in his pocket and make him throw it out. That would really ruin everything, thought Lupine, if he had to drop the stone and give Leafette his pathetic bone necklace instead.

However, when thirty minutes had passed and Papa showed no signs of returning, Lupine got very worried and figured that he ought to look for him in case he was in trouble or had gotten hurt somehow. He shoved down the fear and panic threatening to rise in his chest and sniffed the air, searching for the now-familiar scent of the old Smurf.

To his immense relief, he found it and calculated that Papa was nearby; he was somewhere along the riverbanks and it wouldn't take Lupine too long to reach him. "I wonder why he's on the riverbanks; is he talking to the phoenix or something?" Lupine wondered aloud as he trotted along the muddy banks, sniffing the ground eagerly as he followed Papa's scent trail. The smell became stronger with each passing second.

"Papa, it's me, Lupine! Are you all right?" called Lupine as he reached the area where Papa supposedly was. Nobody answered him, and Lupine became very worried; he couldn't hear any noises nearby and he certainly couldn't see anything either. "Papa? Is everything okay? Please answer me if you're somewhere out there!" called Lupine again. He pricked up his ears and honed his senses as he tried to narrow in on Papa's whereabouts.

Still no answer came to him, and Lupine figured that now he must take matters into his own paws. Papa must be seriously injured or captured or …"Not now, Lupine; worry later, you've got to find him for the sake of the village!" scolded Lupine to himself as he sniffed and felt along the riverbank with his pawlike hands as he searched for the missing Smurf.

He soon found Papa, and tears came into his eyes when he saw him. The leader's body was lying lifeless on the bank, half-submerged in the rippling waters of the river. Lupine could smell blood on him and figured that he must have been attacked. When he got a closer look, he saw huge scratch marks all over his body. The phoenix must've gotten him somehow. Lupine hung his head in shame as he looked at Papa. "It's all my fault that he's hurt; if I hadn't been looking for gems, then I could've saved him," whimpered Lupine as he looked down at Papa, nudging him with his nose to search for signs of life.

To his great relief, Papa's body still felt warm, but only very slightly. He needed to get help fast if he was to survive. He was very close to death and he was only barely alive. Grunting with the effort, Lupine tugged Papa the rest of the way out of the river. He settled him on dry ground and pressed a paw to his stomach to get the water out of his lungs. Papa coughed it up and stirred faintly. Lupine almost fainted with relief and knew then that Papa was going to be fine.

Very gently, Lupine loaded Papa onto his back and ran off on all fours towards the village; his sides heaving and his back smarting with pain. Still, he ran and ran and ran until he thought his lungs would burst. The only thing keeping him going was Papa's chance of survival. He had almost reached the village when he heard a loud caw and looked behind himself in horror to see the golden phoenix chasing after him. Its talons were nearly scraping his tail!

In a panic, Lupine dived through a mass of twisted branches and galloped the rest of the way towards the village. In a rage, the bird tried to dive after him and instead wound up getting its neck tangled in the branches. Golden feathers flew all about as it tried to escape. "Try harder, bird-brain; Lupine's too smart for you, huh?" taunted Lupine, giving the phoenix a cruel grin. The bird gave him a filthy look back. Its glimmering red eyes flashed fire as it finally untangled itself and flapped off towards its nest, squawking furiously at Lupine as it went as if it were swearing to get its revenge one day.

Lupine, however, didn't have time to answer back. He was too busy darting through the village, looking for help for Papa. Nobody answered, and Lupine, exhausted and pained, collapsed in a heap and gasped for breath. He shouted for help as if the world depended on it.

Soon, Smurfs tumbled out of their houses and ran to the square, looking around curiously for the source of the shouting. As soon as they set eyes on Papa and Lupine, they hurried over and gathered around the two, firing questions:

"What happened to Papa? He's soaking wet; poor thing!"

"Did the phoenix get him? Why is he all scratched up?!"

"Lupine! Are you okay? You look out of breath!"

"Hey, why do you have a lump in your pocket? I thought that Papa said not to take any gems home!"

Lupine flinched at that last question, but luckily the Smurfs were more concerned about Papa than what was in Lupine's pocket. "I…I was following him to the river because I was curious as to what the phoenix's hoard was like, and I was so busy admiring it that I didn't notice the phoenix attacking Papa until it was too late…I noticed that he wasn't anywhere to be seen, and I picked up his scent and found him half-submerged in the river with his eyes closed…we need to get him warmed up right now before he catches cold," explained Lupine, trying to keep his tongue from flopping out of his mouth in a pant.

"Wow, Lupine! You're a hero!" gasped Leafette, admiration for the brave Smurf shining in her eyes. "Yes, well, it was nothing," said Lupine shyly, blushing and grinning. At last, he'd won over his love! All he needed to do was give her that gem and she was all his…

Lupine was snapped out of his reverie as Hefty gathered up Papa in his arms and started to carry the unconscious Smurf towards his mushroom. All the village members clustered around him in concern as he walked. "Poor Papa Smurf; he looks really awful! He always gets himself into these situations…" sighed Smurfette, wiping tears out of her eyes as she glanced at Papa's body.

"Don't worry, dear; he'll be fine, he always is," soothed Mama, patting Smurfette on the head in a motherly way and trying to look confident although she was just as worried as everyone else was. Perhaps even more, as she was Papa's spouse after all. "Yeah, he's a tough guy. I wouldn't worry about him if I were you," grunted Hefty as he reached Papa's house and laid the still Smurf in bed, taking off his hat and drying him off with it. "Can anybody fetch some blankets for him? He looks awfully cold; we need to make sure that he's warm and comfortable so that he doesn't get sick or something…"

"I-I'll get them," offered Lupine timidly, and with that he rushed off through the house, searching for blankets to keep Papa warm with. Luckily, he found some and a hot water bottle in a chest in Papa's living room. He must've kept them on hand for guests. He collected them up and rushed back, covering Papa with the blankets and putting the hot water bottle at his feet. "He-he's going to be okay, right?" asked Lupine as he looked at Papa with a worried look on his face. He knew he'd never forgive himself if something happened to him and besides, who would lead the village if Papa died? Blue would probably take leadership, as he was Papa's deputy after all; but then Brainy might get mad and there might have to be an election or something before the two got into a Smurf-fight…

"Don't worry; he's going to be just fine," said Leafette gently, patting Lupine on the head and making him blush again. "Why don't you get some rest? I'm sure you're exhausted and anyway, it's no use just staying up all night waiting for something to happen. I'll let you know if he gets better, okay?" "Y-yes, Leafette," stammered Lupine, bowing so low that his tail brushed the floor before he raced out the door and went into his own house. He curled up before the fire and wrapped his tail around himself.

Soon he was asleep, but his rest was peppered with nightmares of being chased by a golden phoenix; trying to race to Papa, who was drowning in the river, but being unable to move; falling in the river and struggling to swim to the surface, which was too far away; and, most heartbreakingly of all, kneeling by the riverbank and nudging Papa with his snout, but with no response from the inanimate Smurf; the river rising with each moment and threatening to drag him away forever.

….

Papa woke up shaking all over; certain that the phoenix was still after him. "Wh-where am I…is the ph-phoenix s-still after m-me?" stammered Papa, sitting up and blinking as he regained his senses. "Papa! You're alive! Oh, I'm so happy that you're okay!" exclaimed Smurfette, embracing him so dramatically that she almost suffocated him. "Lay off him, Smurfette; you're practically smothering him!" snorted Grouchy, trying to hide his relief with an incredibly petulant scowl. "Okay, okay, I will; I'm just so relieved to see him awake after the way he came in last night," explained Smurfette, blushing femininely and backing off from the bed.

"Huh? Why do you say THAT?!" asked Papa, rubbing his head in confusion and taking in his surroundings. He was lying in bed, covered by blankets and surrounded by the village members. He was in his mushroom with a fire crackling in the nearby hearth. obviously the village had tried to make certain that he didn't get cold. Papa glanced down at himself and flinched when he saw the bandages all over his body. They hardly covered the stinging scratches and only made his injuries look worse than they probably really were. "W-what happened to me? And wh-where's the phoenix?!" stuttered Papa, sinking onto the pillows and lying down weakly.

"Lupine was following you and then he found you out cold on the riverbanks and he took you back to the village and saved your life!" enthused Leafette, throwing her arms in the air for emphasis. "He's such a courageous Smurf; he really is! Oh, he's my hero…" At this, Leafette turned around and gave Lupine a shy smile. This was almost too much for the poor Smurf, and he very nearly avoided fainting dead away on the spot. "How many times do I have to tell you; it was NOTHING! Nothing at ALL!" protested Lupine, though you could clearly see that he was enjoying all the attention, hard as he tried to hide it.

"Th-that's very brave of you to do that, Lupine; I'm very proud of you," smiled Papa feebly, giving Lupine a nod of respect. "I-it was nothing, really; I just saw you and knew I had to help you," replied Lupine, ducking his head and tucking his quivering tail between his legs. "Three cheers for Lupine!" said Leafette, and soon the whole village was cheering, "Smurf, Smurf, hooray! Smurf, Smurf, hooray! Hooray for Lupine!"

"C'mon guys; how many times do I have to tell you that it wasn't really anything out of the Smurfinary?" said Lupine, blushing so hard that he looked like a tomato and slouching even more than he already was. The slouching made him look smaller than he truly was. In truth, however, although he was enjoying the praise and Leafette's admiration, part of him felt like a guilty impostor for stealing the jewel against Papa's orders just to impress his love. He felt even worse when Papa pulled something out of his pocket and held it out to him, revealing a beautiful azure gemstone that was shaped like a paw with a howling wolf and a moon in the middle and gave it to him.

"Lupine, this is for you. Years ago I had a vision about your coming to the village and I've kept this amulet ever since then. I can see now that you've proved that you deserve it," said Papa, giving Lupine a fatherly look of love and pride. "I-I c-can't take something that v-valuable; I'll j-just b-break it," stuttered Lupine, almost dropping the precious necklace."Don't worry; it won't break," assured Papa, mistaking Lupine's nervousness for concern for the valuable stone. "It's made of a special blue stone called Smurfite; it's very tough and it doesn't crack easily. Kind of like you, huh?"

"PA-PA!" groaned Lupine, wagging his tail nervously and scrunching into a little furball. "Don't take it personally; Papa makes jokes like that all the time…it's kind of a father thingie or something," whispered Grouchy reassuringly, looking as though he was afraid that Papa would be mad at him if he heard. "Thanks for the good advice; I'll take it," mumbled Lupine as he slunk low to the floor and walked out of the room. He was feeling embarrassed, guilty and in love all at the same time.

He felt very awkward and unsure of what he should do. Part of him wanted to return the opal to the phoenix and give the necklace back to Papa. The other part of him said it was crazy to do so and besides, he seemed to have caught Leafette's attention. Who in their right mind would get rid of all the adoration and the praise that he was getting now? If there was one thing Lupine liked, it was getting attention and he certainly had no intention of getting rid of it.

He was starting towards Leafette's house to drop off his priceless present for her when all of a sudden, there was a loud whoosh next to him and he found himself pinned on the ground with a voice shouting in his ear, "Hey, where do you think you're going, wolf boy?! That girl is MINE and that's how it's going to stay!"


	6. Chapter 5: Forgiven

Chapter Five: Forgiven

Lupine found himself looking into the face of a very strange-looking Smurf. The person who had pinned him down was wearing a hat made of leaves and a loose-fitting loincloth around his waist. He had a wild look in his eyes and muscular but surprisingly lithe limbs. "Who do you think you are, tackling a poor innocent wolf like that?! Get OFF me, Smurfzan!" snorted Lupine as he squirmed underneath the stranger's feet, which he was using to pin down Lupine with a grip like iron.

"Only if you promise me that you're not trying to take my girl," snorted the figure as he reluctantly stepped off of Lupine and allowed the gasping Smurf to get to his feet. "I've had my eyes on her for AGES; it's not fair that a scruffy, smelly Smurf like YOU would catch her eyes!"

"I'M NOT A DIRTY STRAY!" hollered Lupine at the top of his lungs. He got so mad that steam poured out of his ears as though someone had lit a campfire within them. He started to get that strange sensation again- the feeling that he was about to lose control of himself.

However, something was different this time: the paw amulet was pulsing and glowing with a strange light. The sensation made his chest feel strange and his mind clearer-the amulet was giving him the power to resist!

However, this time, Lupine actually WANTED to attack this weird Smurf-he was so rude and, even worse, he was trying to make him give up Leafette! So he concentrated his senses and tensed his muscles, and in a heartbeat had pinned the Smurf to the ground, snarling and clawing at his chest.

"NOBODY insults ME, the great Lupine; raider of the Treasure of the Golden Phoenix, rescuer of Papa Smurf, warrior of the pack Aluraris!" hissed Lupine as he prepared to bite the Smurf's neck; not even caring that he had just spilled the beans on his secret as his eyes glowed redder than sunset and his claws started to sharpen.

"PAPA! HELP ME! LUPINE'S GOING TO SMURF ME!" screamed the Smurf in horror, wriggling in terror and trying like mad to escape from Lupine's strong hold. "What the Smurf is going on here, Wild?!" gasped Papa as he ran over to where the scuffle was taking place. Concern skittered across his bearded face as he hurried to break up the Smurf-fight.

By this time, everyone in the village had gathered around to watch the fight; several Smurfs were cheering and encouraging Lupine and the other Smurf, who they seemed to be calling Wild. "Go Lupine! Show that ol' squirrel who he REALLY is!" cheered Grouchy, punching his fists enthusiastically into the air.

"WI-LD, WI-LD, WI-LD!" shouted Brainy, amplifying his voice with a loudspeaker that he had just grabbed off of Actor Smurf.

"Poor Wild; he looks like he's really hurt! I can't believe it!" sobbed Weepy Smurf hysterically, blowing his dripping nose emphatically into his handkerchief.

"You barSmurfians! Stop all this monkey business about the fight; you know better than that!" scolded Papa as he pushed his way through the crowd and dragged a snarling Lupine off of Wild, who was looking very angry indeed and giving Lupine filthy looks every angle of 360 degrees.

"LUPINE! I cannot BELIEVE you; why on Smurf are you attacking your poor brother?! I thought you told me that you weren't the sort of person to get into a Smurf-fight!" snapped Papa as he looked Lupine dead in the eye with absolute seriousness. "I am very disappointed in you, I must say; I thought you might prove to be better than all the other Smurf-fight loving maniacs here…"

"This-this CLOWN is my BROTHER?!" gasped Lupine, snapping out of his rage and looking at Wild in total confusion. "I have a BROTHER?! Why didn't you tell me before?!"

"I forgot to…but that's not important now; I'm more interested in an explanation as to why you were attacking him so brutally; if I hadn't dragged you off him at the last moment, you probably would've killed him…"

At hearing this, Weepy started to sob so hysterically that he almost made an ocean. "Oh, what a shame it would've been if Wild had died; he's such an amazing Smurf!" wailed Weepy, blowing his nose so hard into his handkerchief that it flew out of his hands and hit Grouchy smack in the face.

"Me, I hate Smurf snot! Disgusting!" snorted Grouchy, peeling the handkerchief off of his face in disgust and handing it back to Weepy as if he were handling a bomb that was about to explode.

"W…well, I was going to give Leafette a present, and then Wild came over and pinned me down to the ground, saying that Leafette was his, and then I got so angry that…I flew out of control again," spluttered Lupine, feeling a pang of guilt at lying to Papa. After all, he had done it on purpose this time.

"Oh…" trailed off Papa, a blank look crossing his face as if he wasn't quite sure what to do in this situation. "Oh…well, in THAT case…I guess I can let you off, but you have to be VERY CAREFUL in the future; we don't want this happening for a THIRD time, now do we? Besides, _this_-" he pointed at the amulet hanging innocently around Lupine's neck; no longer glowing and looking like an ordinary gem now-"_this_ here can help you control your anger; it gives you the choice to attack or not. I don't understand why it didn't work this time…"

At this, Lupine started to sweat and his tongue flopped out of his mouth as his heart began to pound; he almost wanted to admit to Papa that the gemstone HAD worked; he had just chosen to not use its calming powers. However, the other half of him said to keep quiet about the issue; if Papa discovered that he had attacked his brother on purpose, then he would never hear the end of it and he might even be booted out of the village, for all he knew.

He was enjoying staying with his family-everything would be ruined if he had to leave and go home to his wolf pack. Besides, he knew that he would never be able to face the pack when they asked why he had come home; he had to get out of this situation right now and leave the crowd of gawking Smurfs.

But what was he going to use as an excuse? He couldn't think of anything good enough to use; sooner or later, Papa would track him down again and question him about the Smurf-fight, and he didn't want that.

As nervous sweat rolled down his face, a sudden inspiration came to him; something so good that he had to stop himself from grinning at the cunning excuse: he would pretend to be sick; that way, everybody would leave him alone and it would keep him out of the woods for a few days before he 'got better' again and Papa would finally come around to grilling him on the fight; that is, if he ever remembered to get to it at all.

Suddenly, Lupine started to stagger around; panting heavily and looking dazed and unsteady. "Lupine? Is everything okay down there?" asked Smurfette in concern as Lupine sat down and clutched his stomach, groaning in pain.

"I…I don't feel very good…" moaned Lupine convincingly as he started to make retching noises. "I…I think I need to lie down for a little...bit….I'm so hot…"

"Do you need help walking or something?" asked Handy as Lupine struggled to his feet and began to stumble home; whimpering and groaning all the way.

"I…I'm okay…just kind of sweaty," smiled Lupine weakly, suddenly coming up with an even better idea that would no doubt get Papa off his tail for even longer. He suddenly started to shake all over; panting like crazy and looking like he was about to collapse any minute now.

"Lupine?! Do you need water or something?! You look like you're about to faint!" gasped Papa anxiously as he rushed to Lupine's side.

"W…water….please…" croaked Lupine, blinking rapidly as if his eyes couldn't focus. "I…I'm so dizzy…I…I need w-water n-now…"

Papa looked as though he was going to have a panic attack, but still he did as Lupine asked and got him a cup of water from the well, his ancient face wrinkling up in concern as Lupine ravenously gulped down the water like it was nectar. "More," gasped Lupine weakly, shakily handing the cup back to Papa as he tucked his tail between his legs and put a hand on his forehead slowly and dramatically. "I think I might black out at this rate…I feel really, really sick…sicker than a dog, you might say…"

"Poor you! Do you think you need a checkup?" asked Doctor concernedly; looking as though he was eager to have a new patient.

"I…I…I…" stammered Lupine, but before he could continue, his legs collapsed and he fell backwards onto the ground; stiffer than a log and completely drenched with sweat.

"Lupine! LUPINE! Wake up!" exclaimed Smurfette as she slapped him on the cheeks in an attempt to revive him. When Lupine still didn't move, Weepy started to go hysterical again and Hefty started to pinch Lupine all over, turning him black and blue with the effort.

Even though Lupine looked as though he was unconscious, he was actually in fact pretending; he was still aware of everything that was going on around him and almost wanted to give up the act when Smurfette and Hefty started slapping and pinching him.

However, he knew full well that if he stayed still as long as he could, it would no doubt raise the village's concern for him and the longer he could stay 'sick', the longer he could avoid Papa Smurf's probing. So he lay still through all the village's attempts to 'revive' him; he didn't even twitch a muscle when Jokey set off a present in his face.

"Guys, leave him alone; he's exhausted and he needs his rest," Lupine heard Papa say as he lifted him into his arms and started to carry him to his house; grunting and groaning with the effort. Lupine felt vaguely uncomfortable being carried as though he was a baby. In fact he would have much rather preferred to have been carried by the scruff of the neck by a wolf with halitosis than to be cradled like a child in Papa's arms.

But again, he knew that if he gave up his bluff now, Papa would start prodding him right now and besides, he might get very angry if he discovered that Lupine's illness was a fake; in fact, he might get even angrier than if he knew about what Lupine had done to Wild.

Lupine was starting to feel a little sleepy, what with the winter sun beating down and the rocking motion of Papa's arms, and Lupine then realized that falling asleep would be the best thing to do: it would take him no effort at all to continue his 'faint', and since he would actually be asleep, it would look even more convincing than before

Lupine slowly started to drift off, but before he fell asleep, he heard Papa mutter, "There's something rather suspicious about this whole 'sickness' thing…if he really WAS sick, don't you think he would've been showing symptoms before all this happened? Oh, come on, Papa….he DID look really awful after all, and he could've just been a bit dehydrated…but still, it does seem rather peculiar…"

…

Lupine woke up lying on Papa's couch, feeling confused and disoriented as Papa leaned over him in concern and swabbed his forehead with a washcloth. "Wh-where am I? Wh-what's happening?" he stuttered as he sat up and blinked in bewilderment.

"Oh, you're awake! You were out for a few hours; I was really worried that something was wrong!" sighed Papa in relief as he wrung out his washcloth and moved even closer to Lupine.

"Wh-what do you mean? I don't remember fainting," said Lupine as he scratched his head and tried to remember what had happened to him. Then it all came flooding back and he groaned; lying back down feebly and feeling like a criminal. What had he gotten himself into NOW?!

It was as if he was caught in a spider's web that he had woven himself, and now he didn't seem to be able to get out. Part of him wanted to confess his bluff and just get the questioning over with; but the other, stronger part of him said to keep up the lie; it may be tough and claw into his conscience, but at least he wouldn't have to confess to attacking his brother on purpose.

"Of course you don't remember fainting; you weren't awake!" snorted Papa, almost laughing as he looked concernedly at Lupine. "Are you alright? Do you need a drink of water or something? You looked pretty dehydrated when you were last awake…"

"I have an awful headache," moaned Lupine as he writhed on the couch and tried to look as feverish as possible. "I feel sore all over; I'm just TERRIBLE…and my back really, really Smurfs!"

"Oh, poor you; I'm awfully sorry about that," said Papa sympathetically, stroking Lupine comfortingly on the arm. "Do you think you need a painkiller potion or something? It'll help numb the pain, and you'll feel much better…"

"No; I'm just a little thirsty and really, really tired…" yawned Lupine, wrapping his tail around himself and preparing to go to sleep again.

"Hang in there; I'll be right back with some water; just try and rest," said Papa nervously as he dashed off like a shot to retrieve some water from the village well.

"Yeah…" said Lupine, stretching and wincing as his back smarted with pain, reminding him that it hadn't completely healed yet. He whimpered and curled up even more; wondering when and if his sore backside would ever heal completely.

Lupine was just starting to drift off when Papa burst through the doors with pitchers of water; hurriedly pouring a cup for Lupine and handing it to him. "I got a lot of water for you because you were really dehydrated last time, and I don't want you to get sick again…try and drink as much as you can," explained Papa as Lupine gulped down the water and drank another cup.

"Okay," said Lupine meekly, but inside he was groaning at the thought, because he knew he wasn't really dehydrated and more likely than not, his bowels would explode with all the water. He couldn't figure out what he was going to do if he had to drink all that water and escape to the bathroom without blowing his cover and making Papa suspicious of him.

"I…I've had enough water now," panted Lupine as he downed his fifth cup of water, hoping that Papa would be satisfied. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case, as Papa handed him even more water and almost made Lupine groan aloud.

"I wouldn't really take a chance if I were you; just try and drink a little more," urged Papa, forcing Lupine to comply.

By the time he had drank his eighth cup, Lupine thought his stomach was going to burst, and he practically had to cross his legs to prevent himself from exploding completely. "I've had enough…my stomach is going to split open if this keeps up," gasped Lupine, hoping madly that Papa would leave and allow him to make his escape.

"You sure? I wouldn't want to take any risks if I were you," repeated Papa, raising an eyebrow in concern.

"Please believe me…I really can't take anymore," pleaded Lupine, his eyes bulging like a frightened fish's. "I'm going to be in the bush all night if you keep giving me water…I really, really have had enough…"

"Alright then; have it your way," shrugged Papa, leaving the room; much to Lupine's relief. "I'm leaving these pitchers here if you get thirsty again…but don't hesitate to Smurf if you need me."

"I won't!" grinned Lupine in relief, waiting for Papa to be as far away as possible. When he was gone, Lupine waited for a half-minute longer to make certain that he was well and truly gone; then he scurried outside behind a bush to do his business.

….

Three hours later, Lupine staggered out of the bush in relief; shaking all over and feeling like a deflated balloon. "That was honestly the worst moment of my entire life so far…let's hope that THAT doesn't happen again," gasped Lupine, staggering back to Papa's house to get back on the couch. However, he was halfway to Papa's mushroom when Leafette happened to pass by him.

She stopped as soon as she saw him and giving him a look of concern. "Lupine, are you all right? Papa said that you were asleep for four hours; I was really worried that you weren't feeling well…"

"I-I'm okay now; I was just a little dehydrated," stuttered Lupine, starting to sweat again. Whether it was from nervousness or from love, he couldn't tell; but a thought struck him in the brain and he smiled at the idea: What better time was there than this to give Leafette his gift; right at the height of her pity?

"Oh, thank Smurf! I would've felt really awful if something had happened to you, you know," sighed Leafette in relief; continuing on her way once more.

"Uh…Leafette! Wait; I've got a gift for you," called Lupine as he scurried after her.

"What is it-? Oh, Lupine…" breathed Leafette as Lupine kneeled before her and held out the opal in an extravagant gesture. "This is simply BEAUTIFUL…wherever did you get it? It's AMAZING…I can't describe it…"

"I stole it off the Golden Phoenix's hoard when Papa wasn't looking," smiled Lupine; so ecstatic that he had pleased Leafette that he forgot his secret

"WHAT?! You stole it from the PHOENIX'S HOARD?! But Papa said not to do that!" exclaimed Leafette, dropping the gemstone and giving Lupine a look of total and utter shock.

"N-no…it w-was just a j-joke," stammered Lupine, backing up and trying desperately to hide his theft. But it was too late; Leafette had fetched Papa and the whole village was gathered around Lupine, shooting him looks of disgust and pelting him with questions.

"LUPINE! So THAT'S why you were able to save me that night…and I suppose you were faking your illness too if you were 'well' enough to get up and give Leafette this blasted opal?!" thundered Papa, his eyes flashing like a cloud in a thunderstorm as he scowled disapprovingly at Lupine.

"Sorry, Papa…and I'm sorry that I pretended to faint and I attacked my brother on purpose," whimpered Lupine, feeling that he might as well confess his other wrongs at this point; it certainly wouldn't do him any good to hold back now.

"You-YOU!" stuttered Papa, looking as though he couldn't believe Lupine. "You naughty little child; I can't BELIEVE you! Go back and give the opal back to the phoenix, and consider yourself banned from the village until you can show that you're trustworthy!"

"I-I…" stammered Lupine, hanging his head low and starting to walk out of the village; unable to believe what had happened to him. His worst fears had come true now; he felt tears running down his face at the thought of leaving his family forever.

He couldn't face the wolf pack NOW and he didn't know who else he could live with. He'd just have to be a lone wolf the rest of his life; his heart cracked at the lonely and heart-wrenching thought as he tucked his tail between his legs and prepared to run far away from his new home.

"And one more thing: I don't think you're entitled to that necklace anymore, so you can give it back to me now," barked Papa, holding out his hand to Lupine.

"No…please, just let me keep SOMETHING so I can remember you?" sniffled Lupine, wiping the pained tears out of his eyes.

"No; give it back!" snapped Papa, forcing Lupine to reluctantly hand over his precious amulet.

"You're so mean! I'm never coming home AGAIN!" squeaked Lupine, running away into the forest and sobbing all the while.

For a moment, there was silence in the village as everyone looked after Lupine; stunned and feeling bad for the poor Smurf. "Dear, don't you think you were a bit harsh on him? What he did wasn't really so awful, you know…" asked Mama hesitantly, looking as though she wished she could go after Lupine and comfort him.

"No; he was acting completely inappropriately; I don't think I can trust him," snorted Papa, wiping some soot off his smoking beard.

"Papa! What happened to your beard?! It looks like it caught on fire!" shrieked Mama in horror, looking at her husband's fiery beard.

"It's fine, it's fine; I just tried to make a potion and it exploded in my face, that's all," replied Papa, hastily beating out the smoldering patches on his face.

"What in Smurf's name where you MAKING exactly?! You shouldn't be going around burning up your precious whiskers, you know!" barked Blue, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"I was trying to make a potion to revive the griffinling's mother; leave me alone and don't act like you know more than me, okay?!" snapped Papa, stomping off to his lab and slamming the door loudly behind him. For a while, everybody was silent.

Then Wild hesitantly spoke up and broke the quiet. "So THAT'S why he was so mean to Lupine…poor guy; he really didn't deserve what he got, I'm going after him…"

"Well, I think Papa DID give him fair treatment; he did a lot of stuff he shouldn't have and he deserved what he got," argued Brainy, but then again he always sided with Papa Smurf.

"Well, fair or not, I'm going after him; if my brother's banished, then so am I!" decided Wild, setting off after his sibling with a determined look on his face; stopping and picking up the opal before he left the village walls and walked along the river to put the stone back in the phoenix's hoard.

….

"Oh, poor, poor me…whenever something bad has to happen, it always happens to little Lupine, doesn't it?" whined Lupine as he scuffled his feet through the fallen leaves; feeling worthless and alone. He'd been hiking for a week now, and spring was starting to unfurl its youthful blossoms. Courageous first flowers were poking their way through the frosty earth; the days were getting longer and sunnier; birds sang and hibernating animals began to wake up, facing the cold world to find as much food as they could.

Normally, this would have made Lupine very happy, but instead it just made him depressed since he had no one to share it with. He sighed and wiped away a tear at the memories of the springs he'd shared with his wolf pack, and for a moment he felt a little better. Then he wondered what a spring with his new family would've been like and that one speck of comfort was shattered like a glass ball. He started crying again for the fourth time this day; that always happened when he thought of the Smurfs and he wished that he'd never found them; or if he had, that he hadn't done all the perfectly terrible things that he'd done.

"You're not alone, Lupine," said a familiar voice; making Lupine stop and stare all around him, wondering if perhaps he was hearing things. "I felt so bad that Papa booted you out of the village; he was in a bad mood and he's normally not like that; usually he's very fair," continued the voice, and a branch rustled and stirred the greening leaves. "

W-who are you? A-am I h-hearing things?!" stammered Lupine, backing away and figuring that he had finally gone crazy. All these days of being alone must've taken a toll on his sanity, or perhaps he was hallucinating because he was so lonely.

"You're not crazy; I followed you because I wanted to give you company and I returned that opal for you," said the voice, and suddenly a lithe figure flew through the air and pinned Lupine to the ground with one of his strong feet.

"WILD?!" gasped Lupine, his heart thumping in joy when he saw his grinning brother looking down at him.

"Yup; it's me and I'm here to stay," Wild grinned as he let Lupine go and dusted himself off.

"Oh, Wild! Th-that's just WONDERFUL! You don't understand how lonely I've been…" trailed off Lupine, feeling overjoyed at the prospect of having his brother around to keep him company. Although it still brought a pang to his heart to think that he'd never see the other village members again, it made him feel better that he'd have a companion, and living as a lone wolf didn't seem so bad anymore.

"So…what do we do next, brother?" asked Wild, snapping Lupine out of his reverie.

"I dunno…maybe we go and find a Wartmonger to chase?" shrugged Lupine, devoid of ideas and unsure of what to say.

"Sure; it'll be fun! C'mon!" laughed Wild, and soon the two were chasing each other around as they searched the forest for a sign of a Wartmonger's den.

Suddenly, a heavenly scent hit Lupine's nose: something that smelled pure and clean and warm and beautiful, as though he smelled gold itself. "That smell…it's wonderful..." Lupine sighed, his eyes going all glazy as he strained to breathe in more of that fantastic smell.

"Lupine? What is it? What smells so good?" asked Wild, giving him a funny look as though he'd just gone crazy.

"I smell…I smell…GOLD!" Shrieked Lupine, suddenly becoming hyper and jumping so high up in the air that he nearly knocked Wild over. "MUST GET THE GOLD NOW!" And with that, he stuck his snout to the ground and began sniffing away frantically. He raced along the scent-path of the gold, wagging his tail enthusiastically the whole time.

"Oh brother…there he goes again; sniffing everything in sight and getting himself into a fix," sighed Wild as he hurried after his excited brother, who was rapidly approaching an old abandoned mine shaft.

As soon as Wild saw the tip of Lupine's tail disappear into the mine, he became worried immediately and poked his head into the mine. He recognized this as a mine that Miner had closed off some years ago because it was too dangerous to mine in due to rock avalanches, and he had no intention of seeing Lupine buried by one of them.

"Hey Lupine! Miner said not to go into this old mine anymore because there's avalanches practically every hour…if you go any deeper, you're going to get yourself killed!" called Wild, but there was no response; save for some rustlings deeper into the mine and a few eager yips.

"Lupine! LUPINE! Get out of there, if you know what's good for you!" Wild shouted again, but still no reply came. After Wild had waited for a response for a half-hour, he figured that Lupine was either too deep into the mine to hear him or he had gotten hurt somehow.

"If only he'd LISTENED…" sighed Wild as he cautiously lowered himself into the mine and hiked after his brother. "He's going to get himself killed in a real nasty way…if it wasn't for that darned gold, I could've gotten him back to the village and maybe Papa would even let him in again…"

After hours and hours of searching, Wild finally found Lupine, but his heart skipped a few beats when he saw the state that his brother was in: Just as Wild had suspected, there had been an avalanche and gray boulders covered the bottom of the mine like scattered marbles. Worst of all, Lupine's tail was sticking out of the middle of the pile, and it wasn't moving.

"Lupine?! LUPINE?! Is everything okay?!" squeaked Wild as he raced to the pile and started scrabbling desperately through the heaps in an attempt to uncover his brother.

"Wild? Is that you?" came a groggy voice from the bottom of the pile. Lupine's tail started to wag slowly.

"Lupine! You're alive!" exclaimed Wild in relief and astonishment as Lupine slowly sat up and blinked; shaking his head as he recovered his senses.

"Y-yes; the rocks landed on top of me and knocked the wind out of me, that's all," panted Lupine as he got unsteadily to his feet and shook himself off; sending dirt and mud flying into Wild's face.

"Knocked the WIND out of you?! Lupine, you're lucky that you're still alive; you could've been killed in that avalanche!" said Wild, wiping dust out of his eyes and glancing towards the exit of the mine to see how long he had been in there with Lupine.

It was hard to tell since they were so deep down, but judging by the light streaming into the mine, it was dusk now and the sun was almost finished setting. "Lupine…it's getting late now; we should leave and find a safe place to rest for the night before it gets too dark," said Wild, gesturing at the exit to the mine.

"Awww; no fair! Can't I just stay in here until I find that gold? It's only a few more miles down; I can smell it!" whined Lupine, widening his eyes and giving his brother a pleading look.

"Don't give me that puppy-dog face; you've had enough excitement for today as it is and anyway, if you keep on going deeper and deeper, there might be another avalanche and what if it gets both of us? Nobody will be there to save you if I get hurt too! Besides, maybe you're just smelling things; we could very well wind up lost and trapped down under here if there's no gold; I think we should just call it a day and get back up to the light…" sighed Wild, giving his brother a serious look and trying not to give in to Lupine's begging. He hated to admit it, but Lupine did a pretty good puppy-dog face. However, he wasn't prepared to let Lupine run off again and so he would try to resist it as best he could.

"Oh, c'mon Wild; when did a little sense of adventure ever hurt anyone? Besides, think of what that gold could mean for us if we got our paws on it!" insisted Lupine, making his face even more innocent than before and holding up his paws in a begging pose. "If we got that gold, then maybe we could buy some stuff at a human village and make a hut for ourselves in the forest! We could get hold of a wand and practice magic, maybe! We could even convince Papa to let us back home if we're REALLY lucky! Besides, it smells so good that it makes me simply DROOL to think of what it'll look like when I actually find it…"

"Fine," sighed Wild, unable to take the begging any longer. "But it goes without saying; if you're going deeper, then I am too! I want to make sure that I'm there for you if you get hurt or we can't find our way out or if anything else bad happens to us! Stay close to me and don't go too deep; got that?"

"I won't, I promise! Oh, thank you, Wild; you're the best!" exclaimed Lupine, jumping up and licking his brother ecstatically in the face.

"Okay, okay; don't get too mushy on me now," spluttered Wild as he tried to squirm away from Lupine's slurping tongue. When he finally tore himself away, however, he noticed something that made him very worried and more eager than ever to get out of the mine and back to safety. "Lupine, when did you get that huge lump?! It looks awful! We should get you out of here and take care of that nasty bump before it gets worse!" gasped Wild, staring intently at a spot on his brother's forehead.

It was true: there was quite a sizable lump on Lupine's head that was at least the size of a small pebble. "Oh, THAT…a rock knocked me on the head when I got trapped under the avalanche; it's nothing," replied Lupine hastily, trying to hide the bump in the crease of his hat.

"NOTHING?! I've been in the village for longer than you have and I've never seen ANYTHING the size of that!" exclaimed Wild, grabbing his brother's arm and tugging him towards the mine's exit impatiently. "I'm not sure what you would call BAD-I'm sure that you've seen worse injuries when you were in the wolf pack-but that doesn't look like anything little to me; I know you wanted to go for the gold, but that lump is giving me the shivers…I really don't think you should take any chances, Lupine; I really DON'T…"

"Aww, don't be a spoilsport, Wild! It doesn't really hurt and I'm sure that there's not going to be another avalanche for at least another hour; by that time, we'll probably be out and somewhere safe before the rocks even start falling from the ceiling!" protested Lupine as he stuck his snout to the ground once more and started picking up the scent lagged behind him and grumbled about how foolish it was that Lupine was risking everything just for a measly nugget and how he really ought to get that lump taken care of before he tried to get the booty; how it might've been possible that the bump knocked the sense out of him, because otherwise nobody could be so ridiculous as he was being right now, and how he wished Papa Smurf was here to show him a little sense and get him healed before the lump turned into a balloon.

However, Wild didn't make any attempts to stop Lupine and before long, Lupine was digging frantically at the soil, sending huge piles of loam flying through the air as he chattered happily about the gold and wondering what it'd be like when he finally got his paws on it.

At first, it was easy to see Lupine scrabbling at the dirt, but by the time he'd been digging for over an hour (for some strange and lucky reason, there hadn't been any more avalanches; Wild reasoned that they must be too far down to have loose rock above their heads), you could only see the tip of his tail sticking out of the hole, wagging so fast that it was a blue blur. By the time two hours had passed, you could hardly see Lupine at all, and by the time four hours had passed, he had disappeared completely into the little tunnel in the earth.

For Lupine, it was very exciting to shift the earth and smell the gold getting nearer and nearer; it was so tantalizingly close now that he could practically picture it in his mind, and he was very pleased at what he saw. He imagined a magnificent golden nugget the size of a ball, glowing like the sunset and smelling more beautiful than anything he had ever seen before.

This vision propelled him on, and he kept up his digging through the many torturous hours of toil, deaf to all but the singing call of the gold and the idea of what he could do with that gold once he finally had it safely clutched in his paws.

Finally, after seven hours of hard work, he had dug up the underground pocket where the gold was nestling, and what a glorious sight it was: Though it wasn't as big as a ball, it was at least the size of Lupine's hands, which were fairly big, and it was shimmering with an essence and glow that made it enchanting simply to gaze upon it with one's eyes. It smelled better than anything Lupine had imagined; it was more amazing than he thought it would be.

"How fantastic…" breathed Lupine as he reached for the gold, his heart thumping in excitement and triumph at the thought of finally achieving his so sought-after goal.

But just as he was about to clasp the lovely object in his claws, disaster struck. A cascade of stone started falling from the ceiling, and in the confusion, he didn't hear Wild's cry of warning to him to duck. He was crawling towards the gold when a huge rock that was at least twice the size of his head struck him full on the forehead, making his lump swell up even larger and stunning him almost to death. "No…I got…so far…" Lupine whimpered as he collapsed on the ground; his arm reaching out for the gold he knew he'd never get now as the world started spinning. "I…just wish…I'd gotten it…before...I died…"

"LUPINE! LUPINE!" shouted Wild, rushing to his brother's side and almost falling over when he saw the state he was in. "ARE YOU OKAY?! WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"J-just get the gold….don't w-worry about me," whispered Lupine as his vision went blurry and his head started to throb.

"Forget the gold; we've got to get out of here!" said Wild, grabbing Lupine under the arms and dragging him towards the mine exit.

"The gold…the gold…" babbled Lupine as he staggered towards the gorgeous nugget in a last attempt to snatch the treasure. However, his legs buckled underneath him again and he got no closer to getting the gold than he had been before.

"Oh, all right…fine; I'll get the gold for you," he heard Wild say as his brother stooped over the precious loot and snatched it up in his hands.

"That's mine," Lupine managed to squeak as he saw a huge boulder land in front of him and graze the tip of his nose. Then Wild grabbed him under the arms again and he passed out.

…

Wild was starting to get very worried now. It had been over an hour since he had escaped from the caving mine with Lupine and the gold, and his brother still hadn't shown any signs of reviving.

"Poor Lupine…he probably just died a horrible tragic death, and all for THIS…" sighed Wild as he held out the gold nugget and watched as it sparkled mockingly in the last remnants of sunset, as if it were saying, _Lupine thought the gold was more important than YOU; now he's gone and you'll NEVER be able to get him back_.

"No…that can't be true; he probably just fainted," argued Wild to himself as he reluctantly tucked the gold into Lupine's pocket and began to drag his brother again, groaning under his weight as he tried to move him towards some village, some friendly woodland cottage, some castle, SOMEWHERE where surely a kind person would take them in and help him care for Lupine.

However, Wild couldn't resist the temptation to take a break every now and then and gaze at the gold. Lupine certainly had good reasons for wanting it so badly, thought Wild as he turned the treasure over and over in his hands and admired its glittering beauty.

Why, with a nugget of THIS size, Wild could probably do anything he wanted! He could travel the world; he could live in a luxurious house; he could gain power, charisma…why, with wealth of THIS value, he might even pave himself a path to becoming leader of the Smurf Village one day!

He'd always thought that Papa Smurf was a little too strict. Under HIS leadership, then maybe Smurfs and animals would work side by side as equals, and perhaps he could teach those good-for-nothing humans a lesson about the lost art of bonding and show them that money wasn't needed to have a good life…

Wild shook his head as he tucked the gold away once more and began to haul Lupine again; he was no better than those humans if one little gold speck meant THAT much to him, and anyway, brotherhood was far more important than a measly little dream. Still, though, he had to admit that Lupine had a gift; he'd picked some beauty of a nugget to sniff out and it surely was worth quite a bit…

Wild stopped as he neared the entrance of the Smurf Village and gulped as he prepared what he was going to say to Papa Smurf as he walked up to his doorstep and told him about what had happened to Lupine. He wasn't sure if Papa would get mad at him or not-after all, he HAD banished Lupine and he wasn't supposed to return unless he changed his ways-but surely he would understand Wild's reasons and at least let Lupine stay in the village until he was healed?

With a pounding heart and nervous butterflies flitting in the pit of his stomach, Wild deposited Lupine gently on Papa's doorstep and rung his doorbell; hoping with all of his might that Papa would forgive them and help him save Lupine's life.

…..

"The blood of a blue wolf; from a pack whose name sounds like a star; his essence shall revive the dead; whether from near or from afar…" Papa repeated aloud to himself as he paced in his lab, trying to decode the final ingredient that he needed to complete the potion that would bring the griffinling's mother back to life.

The mixture that he was using to revive the griffinling's mother was a very special spell; something so secret that the instructions on how to create it were passed down in rhyme. So far, he had decoded all of the instructions and ingredients, but the last line stumped him completely. At first, he had thought that the poem meant blue wolfsbane, but when he had tried to use that herb in the potion, it had exploded in his face and given him a sooty beard. Next, he thought that maybe the verse meant a euphorbia root that had been soaked in blue moonlight, as the nickname for that was blue wolflight, but that combination hadn't worked either. He just couldn't figure out what it meant exactly. He was certain that the answer was something blindingly obvious, but he couldn't seem to figure out what it was exactly.

Normally, he enjoyed a challenge such as this and time wouldn't have been important to him-the longer it took to solve the puzzle, the better, in his view-but the griffinling, although he had been particularly busy and happy in the village, had kept asking him when the potion would be done and he couldn't bear the look on the griffinling's face when he told him that he wasn't done yet. He sighed and wondered if perhaps he should give up. Who knows what his beard might look like when he was through with all his experimentations, and anyway, maybe the herb that he needed had died out by this time or was in another part of the world completely.

A ring of his doorbell snapped him out of his reverie, reminding him that once again he would have to put aside the current task at the moment to take care of more important matters.

"Papa, it's me, Wild! I…." stammered Wild as Papa opened the door and glared at him when he saw that he had brought Lupine back with him.

"WILD! I thought I clearly said that Lupine was banished and if you were with him, you stayed with him! What in the meaning of Smurf's name is THIS?!"

"B-but Papa…j-just listen and give me a ch-chance to explain myself," stuttered Wild again, and he told Papa the whole story from the time he'd joined Lupine to right now. "So I hope you can understand why I took him back here…he's really hurt and you know more about healing than I do," finished Wild, crossing his fingers behind his back and hoping with all his might that Papa would forgive Lupine just this once and let him stay in the village until he was better.

"Well, the last time he 'fainted', he was faking it; how do you know he's really out cold?" asked Papa suspiciously, although a flicker of sympathy was starting to rise like a spark inside him.

"I-I don't know…but he was buried in a rockslide TWICE, and he was really hurt when he blacked out…besides, if you need proof that he needs to be taken care of, check THIS out…" At this, Wild pulled back Lupine's hat and the bump on his brother's head was clear to see; it was twice as big now and looked nastily painful.

As soon as Papa caught sight of that terrible lump, something lurched in his heart and he was overcome by an overwhelming feeling of failure and betrayal. It had been bad enough when he had had to admit to the village that he'd lost Lupine on that wintry night all those years ago. Now it seemed that he had lost Lupine again, and the worst kind of hurt is when you regain something you love and then you lose it again.

Besides, he felt that it was his duty as leader and father to protect his little Smurfs from danger, and if he hadn't sent Lupine out of the village just because he was in a bad mood, he never would've gotten hurt in the first place. He had failed in his duty, and the blame was his alone and would always be for as long as he lived. Tears filled his eyes as his heart throbbed with the pain of heartbreak and guilt, and he had a feeling that this was the kind of ache that would never go away, even if he cried until all his tears had dried up.

"Papa? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" interrupted Wild, snapping Papa out of his misery.

"N-nothing, my little Smurf; j-just got some potion powder in my eye," lied Papa, trying to force a smile onto his face and turning around hastily so that Wild wouldn't see him wiping his tears away. "Of course I'll forgive you and Lupine; that was a foolish and brave thing that you did, and you know full well that I'd never turn away a Smurf in need. You go and get some rest; I'll take care of Lupine and I'll let you know if he's getting better. Okay?"

"Okay," said Wild, but he didn't know how he'd be able to leave his brother's side when he was so injured. However, he felt that it would probably be best to do as Papa advised, and he knew that it would do him no good to mourn over his brother day and night when there were more important things he needed to be doing. Reluctantly, he nodded a farewell to his brother and skipped off to his house to sleep, wondering how long it would be before Lupine recovered.

He didn't see Papa scoop up Lupine in his arms and whisper, "I'm sorry, my little Smurf; it won't happen again, I promise," before he carried Lupine into his mushroom and left his sight.

…

Lupine heard someone calling his name and wondered sleepily how long it had been since the accident in the mine and where he was now. He slowly blinked and found himself lying in bed with Papa and Wild leaning over him; both of whom looked very worried. However, their expressions changed to immense relief when they saw Lupine open his eyes and hovered even closer to him, as though a miracle that they hadn't been expecting had just occurred.

"W-what happened? Wh-what am I doing back in the Smurf Village? Wh-where's the mine?" stuttered Lupine as he sat up, leaning heavily against the bedstead, and looked around himself; taking in his surroundings.

As his blurry vision focused, he found that he was in what he remembered to be Papa's mushroom, and early noon sunlight was streaming in through the windows. "Oh, Lupine, you're awake at last! We were so worried about you, you know!" sighed Papa as he looked closely at the groggy Smurf.

"Wh-what do you mean? Have I been sleeping?" asked Lupine in confusion as he reached up to rub his pounding head. He winced when his fingers brushed against his now-bandaged lump, and everything came tumbling back to him like rushing waters: the gold, the mine, his close call near the exit of the mine, finally getting the treasure, the second rockslide, and blackness. "How long was I out for? And I thought you told me that I was banished and couldn't ever come back!" exclaimed Lupine, feeling more confused than ever at this apparent turn of events.

"Well…that's a bit of a long story; luckily, I've got enough time to tell it," began Papa slowly, sitting down and getting a faraway look in his eyes as he began to tell the tale. "I was working on something important in my lab when Wild came here and dragged you along with him; he told me everything that happened and I knew that I couldn't turn you away; that would have been sheer cruelty on my part. So I took you in and cared for you for these past four days; you were asleep for so long that I was starting to get worried that you'd died; at least until today."

"FOUR DAYS?! I didn't think the lump was THAT bad!" gasped Lupine, suddenly feeling weak as he leaned against the pillows.

"I didn't either; but apparently you got knocked harder than you thought," explained Papa, wincing at the guilt-inducing memory. "Also, I've changed my mind about the banishment; it was really inappropriate on my part to banish you for such minor things and if I hadn't been in a bad mood because of an experiment that I was doing, I would've given you something far less severe as punishment. Since you seem to have gotten punishment the hard way, and since you need to rest for a while until you get completely better, I've decided that you can stay until that swelling of yours goes down; if you still want to stay after you're recovered, then that would make me jump with joy…"

"Oh, of course I'll stay; I missed you too!" replied Lupine; happiness swelling inside his heart. He was so happy that he felt like dancing, but when he jumped out of bed, everything started spinning and his legs buckled from beneath him again.

"Sorry about this, but you're going to have to stay in bed for a couple of days; maybe I should've told you earlier," explained Papa as he helped Lupine get back into bed.

"Oh…well, at least that'll give my back some time to heal," sighed Lupine as he laid back in bed and stared up thoughtfully at the ceiling; wondering how long he'd have to rest for before the lump got better again. He tried to stay awake, but he felt awfully tired and before he knew it, he'd drifted off to sleep again.

…..

It had been over a month now, and Lupine's leg was completely healed and his back was nearly all better; everyone had come to visit him and he was almost certain that Leafette was more in love with him than ever. "Poor you, Lupine; I can't believe you did all THAT for one little piece of gold!" she'd exclaimed when Lupine had first told her the tale of his adventure in the gold mine.

"W-well, it smelled good," Lupine had mumbled embarrassedly; blushing so bright red in the face that Papa had been convinced that he was catching a fever and had shooed Leafette out of the room and fussed over Lupine like a worried mother, much to his annoyance.

However, Lupine was worrying about Papa; he kept mumbling something about a 'blue wolf's blood' whose essence could 'revive the dead from near or afar'. He wondered if perhaps Papa had gotten a prophecy, but somehow he was too afraid to ask him about it. He also wondered if maybe Papa's prophecy was about HIM; after all, he was a Smurf and he did look an awful lot like a wolf. But again, whenever he tried to get up the guts to ask Papa about it, his lips wouldn't form the right words and he couldn't bring himself to ask the question he so desperately wanted an answer to.

Papa always gave him a funny look when he noticed Lupine's attempts to ask him that dreaded question, but he always shook his head and looked away thoughtfully whenever Lupine did that. Then he mumbled those strange words to himself over and over again, giving Lupine the kind of glance you'd give a lab rat that you were about to perform a test on.

That look always made Lupine feel uncomfortable somehow, but then he reminded himself that Papa wouldn't do anything to hurt him. If he didn't care about him, then why would he be helping him in the first place? It just didn't make any sense at all, and even though he ran those words through his head and mused about the connection between the funny looks and the mystic rhyme, he just couldn't understand what it all meant exactly.

Lupine snapped out of his reverie as he slowly swung his legs out of bed; Papa had told him that he could get up now and he was looking forward to being able to run again. He wasn't the sort of person who liked to stay still for long and he'd been feeling cooped up every single day of the past four weeks when he had been confined to bed rest. He sat on the bed for a few moments, trying to gather the courage to stand up again. It felt like it had been an eternity since he'd done it, even though it had simply been a mere four weeks since he'd last walked.

Eventually, he took a deep breath and slowly put one trembling foot on the floor; then the other. He stood for a few moments, testing his balance and getting used to the sensation of standing up. At last, when he was fairly confident that he wasn't going to collapse, he carefully took one step and waited for his legs to buckle. When his legs didn't crumple beneath him, he took another step forward, then another, then another. Soon, he was walking around as if he'd never been on bed rest at all. Triumph flooded through his veins and he howled aloud in joy as he raced outside and stretched his cramped legs in the warm afternoon sunlight.

After he'd raced and pranced and chased his tail dizzily for a few moments, he stopped for a moment and wondered what he should do next. The world never looked as full of opportunities as it did today; although he knew he should be working, he really wanted to say hello to Wild and hang around the village with him. Or perhaps he should visit Leafette; surely she'd be overjoyed to see him healed once more? Somehow, though, Leafette wasn't so interesting to Lupine anymore. She only really seemed to like him when he was hurt and she pitied him or he had done something particularly heroic, and he wasn't entirely sure that she would still like him if another Smurf did an act of heroism.

He had just decided that he should probably choose to visit Wild when a dark shadow fell over his head and a malodorous stench hit his nostrils like a boulder. "Yuck…whoever's here obviously hasn't washed in quite a few moons," moaned Lupine as he rubbed his nose and squinted through the sunlight to see what could possibly be smelling so bad and what was leaning over him at just that moment. As soon as he saw Gargamel's sneering face looking down at him, he let out a howl of fear and ran off as fast as his legs could take him; panting like crazy and wondering why on earth Gargamel was after him again.

He was just starting to think that he'd escaped from him at last when he stubbed his toe on a rock and tripped, sprawling headfirst onto the ground and getting a mouthful of dirt. Sneezing loudly, he tried to get to his feet again and trembled all over when he saw that Gargamel had caught up to him. Azrael was pinning him down securely to the ground with his paw and was licking his lips as he looked at Lupine as though he was a plate of tuna fish.

"PAPA! WILD! BLUE! SOMEBODY! HELP ME!" screamed Lupine in horror as he struggled to escape from Azrael's grasp; nipping at his paw and kicking his legs. However hard he struggled, though, the more determined Azrael became and held him down even more firmly.

"Azrael, can you try and hypnotize that Smurf again? He's become annoyingly difficult and it'll be impossible to take him away in THIS sort of undignified state, won't he?" asked Gargamel with a cruel gleam in his eyes.

"NO! I WON'T LOOK YOUR STUPID CAT IN THE EYES EVEN IF HE FORCES ME!" shouted Lupine back, absolutely determined to escape capture.

"Well…let's see," snickered Gargamel as Azrael glowered down at Lupine and pushed Lupine's chin up with a paw to force him to look him in the eyes. Lupine tried his best to avoid his stare, instead looking over his head and forcing himself not to think of how relaxing Azrael's green gaze was. It seemed to work: after a few minutes had passed, he found to his relief that he wasn't feeling groggy and Azrael seemed to have forgotten about trying to hold him fast.

His grip on Lupine was loosened, allowing the Smurf a chance to escape. He wriggled furiously and soon found himself out of Azrael's grip; he scuttled off as quietly as he could to escape the evil duo and started to search for signs of another Smurf so that he could warn his family about the lurking danger.

"HE ESCAPED! Azrael, we'll have to use force now. GET THAT SMURF AND WHEN YOU GET HIM, WELL…YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO!" shrieked Gargamel hysterically, and Lupine found himself running away from the dangerous tabby. Although he tried to run as long as he could, after a while he had a painful stitch in his side that he knew wouldn't go away if he didn't stop, but it hurt so bad that he was afraid that he might pass out from the pain. However, he knew that staying alert was the key to defeating Azrael. _I'll just stop for a few seconds; then I'll start running again, _he promised himself as he clambered into a tree and clung furiously to one of the branches; gazing back down at Azrael and fervently hoping that he didn't know how to climb.

Unfortunately for Lupine, Azrael DID know how to climb-he scampered up the tree as if he were a furry orange squirrel and took Lupine totally by surprise, and he almost fell out of the tree. _That was a close one; you sure don't want to be breaking your back after what happened six moons ago, _he thought to himself as he climbed even higher; totally desperate to escape this ferocious feline and wondering if the others had heard his desperate cries. Perhaps help was on the way already?

He was just scurrying onto a lower twig and thinking that he should be getting out of the tree as soon as possibly when he felt Azrael's strong paw whap him on the back, and with a gasp of horror, he fell out of the tree and hit the ground, hard. He lay stunned and winded for a few moments before he got to his feet and started checking himself to make sure he hadn't broken anything. To his relief, he only had a few bruises and scrapes and, best of all, his back hadn't been broken again.

He started to flee when he felt Azrael grab him again and slap him across the face. He gasped again as his head started spinning, and he had a sinking feeling that he was going to black out. _I can't let that happen…no furball's EVER going to kidnap ME again! _Lupine thought in determination, and he began to struggle again in the hopes that the cat would let him go.

"MRRAAAWWW!" wailed Azrael, surprised that his prey was almost succeeding in his struggle to escape. He was highly frustrated that his paw slap didn't work. Now he had to use his hypnosis, which he wasn't sure even worked! That one time could've just been dumb luck, after all. Still, he narrowed his eyes and gave Lupine a filthy glare, hoping with all of his might that the hypnosis would work at least this time.

It did indeed work- within moments of being glared at, Lupine felt his head spinning once more and his eyelids drooping. _This can't be happening, this can't be happening; stay awake, stay awake, _he told himself, but once again he was helpless to the flooding tide of Azrael's hypnotism. A few minutes later, Lupine's eyes closed and he had succumbed to Azrael for the second time.


End file.
